Boys Will Be Boys
by inzane73
Summary: Just how much trouble can two genetically engineered teenage boys get into? Just a little story about my favorite X6’s from The Friggin’ Cure universe, Dalton and Oscar. There is some MA for you shippers out there. Chapter 3 is rated M.
1. Bright Ideas

Boys Will Be Boys

by Inzane

Disclaimer: I lay no claim to Dark Angel or its characters. My interpretation of the briefly seen character Dalton, and my original character Oscar, come from my own warped imagination. I am not seeking nor receiving any financial gain from this story. Just thought I'd let the boys have a little fun.

Summary: Just how much trouble can two genetically engineered teenage boys get into? Just a little story about my favorite X-6's from The Friggin' Cure universe, Dalton and Oscar…

A/N: …because dammit, I can't let them go. This story takes place about four months after the end of The Friggin' Cure (Which is finished by the way, in case you didn't know. The site played hide and seek with the last chapter for a while, but it's playing nice now.) Anyway, this story is not really a sequel. More like an alongside. If you haven't read TFC, you will not understand some stuff in this story. And if you really want to get a grasp on Dalton and Oscar, go read it first. (_Again with the shameless plugs!_)

Warning: Spoilers for The Friggin' Cure, obviously. Bad language, crude behavior, sexual innuendo… well, duh, cuz teenage boys, hello?

* * *

Chapter 1: Bright Ideas

Dalton walked with purpose through the streets of Terminal City, a man (at least in his own mind, anyway) on a mission.

There was just a little strut to his walk, just a hint of swagger in his step, as he passed the residents of TC who were out and about. Life was good. There hadn't been an organized protest outside the gates all month, and it looked like they finally might have a member of the Senate that was actually on their side for once. He was the assistant--official now--to the Second in Command of Terminal City, which gave him a lot of clout with the other X-6's. He had just finished going through a growth spurt in the past couple of months, and had shot up about four inches. His physique had filled out a bit too, hinting more at the man he would become than the boy he still was. And best of all, he was fifteen.

He hadn't really known when it had happened, not for sure. He never knew the exact date of his birth. None of them did. The people back at Manticore sure hadn't bothered to tell them. To them, it was just a statistic on a sheet indicating the freshness of a product. He had a general idea of how old he was, and since he had grown four inches, and it was a perfect day--so beautiful and clear, with just the right amount of a breeze--Dalton decided that today would be the day that he turned fifteen.

There was something about fifteen that excited him. Sixteen was too cliché, too all-American-happy-family, too…_normal_. And since he'd known how to drive--much less take apart and clean an assault rifle blindfolded--long before he could reach the pedals of a car, sixteen never really seemed that important to him. But _fifteen_… he couldn't really explain why fifteen felt so great. It just did.

Maybe it was the fact that he had never expected to see fifteen. He thought he would have been long dead by now--killed on foreign soil, taken out by Familiars, lynched by an angry mob of ordinaries, or executed by of one of the very people that had, in a really warped sense, raised him. It wasn't really a celebration of turning fifteen--it was a celebration of _life_.

* * *

Dalton was currently _full_ of life. The hormones that had started trickling through his system since he had hit his teens had suddenly become a raging current. He had noticed the girls around TC before, but recently it was like he couldn't _not_ notice them. And as transgenics were all designed to be attractive, there was definitely plenty to notice.

Two weeks ago, a large group of refugees had been smuggled in. Even with the improved relations with the ordinaries, they didn't like advertising how large their numbers were, so they still brought people in on the down low. It was standard operating procedure for newbies to meet the command staff, and Dalton's status as Alec's assistant meant he got to participate in all the command stuff, which was completely kick ass in his opinion. He was the youngest on staff, and loved making the other X-6's jealous.

So they'd had a meet and greet with the new blood--three transhumans, and X-3 and an X-4, two X-5's, six X-8's, and four X-6's, including one scorching hot, raven-haired X-6 girl. She was a tiny thing, about four or five inches shorter than he was, but she had curves in all the right places. Her silky black hair fell to just below her shoulders, with bangs cut in a strait line at her eyebrows. She had high cheekbones in a heart-shaped face, and her eyes were a startling amber brown, the color of good whiskey.Something primal in Dalton reacted at the sight of her.

They'd taken the new group on a little tour, and at the end Max had been showing them around the Command Center.

"_So this is Command. All of our main operating systems are here, including Communications, Surveillance, and IT. Command staff offices are on the second level. Alec and I are available if you need to speak to us, but we've got a hell of a workload, so you'll need to see Dalton to arrange something…."_

_Dalton tried to look casually cool as all eyes turned to him, but he was really having a hard time, because, damn, that new chick was hot! _

_At this point, Max shot Alec a glare, who just raised his eyebrows at her, all innocence. "…he's Alec's assistant." Max paused, then a look of extreme annoyance directed at Alec came across her face as she put her hands on her hips. "Though I still don't know why you have an assistant and I don't."_

_Alec shrugged and tried to keep a straight face. "Not my fault you don't play well with others." He paused a moment, then the smirk finally broke free. "'Sides, you know I'm all the assistance you need, Maxie. I'll show you just how good I am at assisting later tonight." On the last word, he gave her a lascivious wink. _

_Max rolled her eyes and threw up her hands at Alec's behavior, an exasperated **here-we-go-again** look on her face._

_Dalton had been expecting some sort of comment like that from Alec. Never fail, whenever they had a new group of transgenics come in, Alec always found a way to let any incoming males know right off the bat that Max was taken. Max always acted like it irritated her, but Dalton suspected she secretly was pleased that Alec was laying claim to her._

_Max continued on with the tour, but Dalton tuned her out. The raven-haired hottie was taking up all his attention. Damn, he wished he had caught her name. He had showed up a bit late for the meet and greet, so he'd missed the intros._

_He didn't even realize that he had locked on and was openly staring at the girl until a sudden smack on the back of the head startled him out of his trance. He whipped his head around to find Alec shaking his head, a disappointed look on his face._

"_Don't be so obvious, moron," Alec said in a low, chastising tone. _

_Dalton blushed at this, and risked a quick glance at the girl to see if she had noticed him staring. If she had, she was playing it very cool._

_Alec leaned in and conspiratorially spoke to Dalton out of the side of his mouth, pretending he was still paying attention to Max's orientation speech. "You're in way over your head there, tiger."_

_The X-6 turned to look at Alec, annoyed that his friend thought he was not up to the challenge this girl presented._

_Alec fought the laugh that threatened to burst out at the look on Dalton's face. "I'm just sayin'. You oughtta know what you're gettin' into. Specialty's explosives, heavy ordinance, and demolition. Her and Mole should get along like two peas in a pod. She's a bit excitable, too. Sounds like a handful."_

_Dalton gave a small, ironic laugh at the last statement. "Like you've got room to talk in that department."_

_Alec had to nod his head at this observation, and he looked fondly at Max. His face softened a bit as he said, "Too true." After a minute, he leaned back over to Dalton. "Her name's Kazi." _

"_Kazi…" Dalton repeated, letting the word flow over his tongue. _

_Alec clapped a hand on his should at this point. "Yeah, as in 'kamikaze.' I hear the name fits, too. Good luck on that, kid." Alec gave his shoulder a squeeze and a little shake before letting go, then threw back his head and laughed as he continued on after the group._

_Dalton wrinkled his brow as he stared after Kazi's retreating form as she followed the group. He thought about Max and Alec, and their volatile relationship, and mentally cringed. Then he glanced back at Kazi, and the sway of perfectly shaped ass as she walked away. _

"_Oh, what the hell," he muttered, then continued after the group. It's not like he was looking for a steady relationship. He was still a virgin, for fuck's sake! Hmmm… Maybe the too fine Kazi would like to help him out with that little issue. If not, well, there were plenty of other completely delectable honeys out there. He was thinking it was about time he started sampling. _

_But, damn, that Kazi chick was hot! _

* * *

Dalton stepped out of the sunlight and into the low building that held the mess hall, his eyes immediately adjusting to the change of light. He paused, transgenic sight quickly scanning the faces around the room, pausing briefly in appreciation every time he came across a girl. He only paused for a moment, because there was a specific face he was looking for, and unfortunately, it didn't belong to a girl.

The room was noisy and full of commotion. The mess hall was TC's daytime socialization center. The transgenic metabolism required a lot of fuel, so food was a very serious matter, especially back in the early days of TC when any meal might have been their last. There, somewhat off to one the side of the mess hall away from the main group, was his target.

_Bingo_.

His quarry was bent forward a bit over his food, and his straight brown hair--short in back but a bit long in the front--hung over his eyes, partly shielding them from view. He appeared to be concentrating on eating his food, but when Dalton looked closer, he could tell the guy's attention was on something else. As he followed his target's gaze, he smiled when it came to land on the finely shaped backside of a cute little X-6. _Oh, that was just perfect! _Dalton's smile turned feral as he closed in on his mark.

"Oscar!" he said loudly at the same time he smoothly grabbed a chair and spun it around, then straddled it, resting his crossed arms over the back. When Oscar jerked and looked up at him, clearly startled, Dalton couldn't help but laugh. "Shit, dude, you have got the be the jumpiest transgenic I ever met. How is it even remotely possible that I could sneak up on you?"

Oscar blushed, clearly flustered. Part of it was because he feared that he had been caught ogling Shelly's ass. But mostly it was because he had always been a bit intimidated by Dalton. Part of it was that Dalton was a alpha, and he was not. But Dalton was also part of the Command staff, a personal friend of the SIC, and hell, he had even fought a Familiar and lived to tell about it!

Dalton had a very bold personality. Oscar was the opposite of bold. He was pretty much the opposite of Dalton. They knew each other well, because they were both in Alec's advanced martial arts classes, but they weren't what you could call close friends. Mostly it was because they moved in different circles. If they had been ordinaries, Dalton would have been part of the popular "in crowd," and he would have been the shy guy on the outer rim that usually escaped notice. Oscar looked back down at his food, letting his hair fall forward again to help hide his reddened cheeks. "I was just, um... well, I wasn't paying attention."

Dalton's smile turned smug at this. He glanced over at Shelly's backside to let Oscar know without a doubt that he had been busted. "Yeah, I could see that."

Oscar lifted his head quickly at this, eyes wide as his stared at the other X-6, afraid that Dalton might do something to embarrass him in front of Shelly. There was actually a high probability of it since, like teenage boys everywhere, embarrassing another guy in front of his friends or, even worse, a girl, was almost considered a sporting event.

"Dalton..." he said, his eyes pleading as much as his voice.

Dalton looked back at Oscar, and saw the silent plea in his eyes. _Heh_. It would be too fun to openly call him out on his peeping activities, because it would be highly entertaining to see Shelly smack Oscar around (most transgenic girls did not let you ogle the merchandise without paying a price), but that would mess up his plan. Still, that didn't mean he couldn't mess with the guy. He drew his eyebrows down and rested his chin on his hand as if in deep thought, letting Oscar sweat a little. When Oscar looked almost about to burst, Dalton relaxed his face and reached over to pluck a slightly dried out carrot stick off Oscar's plate and pop it in his mouth.

"I gotta talk to you, man," Dalton said around a mouthful of carrot, mentally cursing the pathetic food the government had so kindly condescended to supply them as part of _interspecies relations, _as they called it. _Assholes_. Still, food was food.

Oscar relaxed only a fraction at this, expecting that Dalton might be delaying his attack. Still, he was kind of shocked that the other boy wanted to speak to him.

"Me?" His voiced cracked a bit when the word came out. He cleared his throat, face reddening even further. "You want to talk to me?"

Dalton finished chewing and swallowed before continuing. "Yes, Oscar, I want to talk to you. Am I not speaking English here?" He clearly enunciated each of the words, as if he were speaking to someone with questionable intelligence or poor language skills.

Oscar frowned. He couldn't figure out what the other X-6 was up to. He had to be up to something, right? Why else would Dalton be speaking to him outside of work or class? What Oscar never realized, is that every time Dalton had tried to start up a conversation with him, Oscar had always found some excuse to bail. Deep down, he figured a guy like Dalton would never want to be friends with a guy like him, so why even bother? Oscar's personality was unusual for a transgenic, and he knew it. He mostly kept to himself in the hopes that maybe the others wouldn't notice it as well. His ability to stay under the radar had probably been the only thing that kept him from getting euthanized back in the day. Sometimes he still had a hard time adjusting to the fact that they were no longer at Manticore.

"Uhhh..." Oscar replied, his mind a blank.

Dalton stood suddenly, one hand grabbing the chair and spinning it out of his way. He was getting impatient with the other boy, mostly due to excitement over his big plan. "Come on. We can't talk here." He grabbed Oscar by the upper arm and pulled him from his chair. He knew that Oscar would come along, just as Oscar knew that he would allow himself to be pulled away. Every once in a while, though, Oscar would gather up enough courage to fight his submissive personality.

"Hey!" he protested, pulling his arm back a bit, but still allowing himself to be led out of the mess hall and into the alley behind it.

Once in the alley, Dalton looked around to see if anyone else was about. When he verified that no one would be listening in, he gave Oscar a shove, causing the other boy to smack lightly into the brick wall of the building. Dalton crossed his arms, bouncing up and down on his toes as he was no longer able to contain his excitement. He might have thought of himself as a man now, but as he bobbed up and down, the look of pure excited joy on his face made him seem like a little kid on Christmas morning.

"I've got a plan, Oscar, and I'm gonna let you in on it." He punctuated the _you _by poking Oscar in the chest.

Oscar cringed at the word _plan_. He instinctively sensed that mixing _plan _and _Dalton _could be big trouble, and the word _trouble _was not in Oscar's vocabulary. At least, not if he could help it.

Dalton continued on excitedly, ignoring Oscar's hesitance. "In case you haven't noticed--but I can see by the way that you were checking out Shelly's ass in there that you have--we are surrounded by a city full of a whole lot of _fine _looking females."

Oscar felt he had to protest, even though what Dalton said was true. "I was not checking out her ass. I just happened to be..."

Dalton held up a hand to stop the other transgenic. "Please," he interrupted, "you could have been taking schematics, hard as you were lookin'. Now, why don't we save time here and we'll say that you admit that you are one horny sonofabitch, and then I will confess that I too have been taking an extreme interest in celestial bodies of the female variety of late, and we can continue on. Copy?"

Oscar sighed. This must be what it felt like to be run over by a steamroller. "Copy," he replied sullenly.

Dalton rubbed his hands together. "Excellent! Okay, so I imagine you haven't popped your cherry yet, right?"

Oscar's face turned as red as a cherry at this question. "_What?!_" he squeaked.

The look on Oscar's face was all the answer that Dalton needed. "Right. Thought so. No need to feel weird about it, man. I haven't either."

Oscar couldn't take any more. He let his knees buckle and he slid down the wall to sit down hard on his butt. Dalton squatted down in front of him, forearms resting on knees. As he continued to speak, his hands waved about.

"I don't know if you realize how big of a problem this is, Oscar. I mean, you've seen the girls around here, right? They're all engineered to be good looking, and some were engineered as downright smoking hot. You check out that new chick Kazi, by the way? Man, she is _fine_. Sure has me stackin' some serious wood of late, if you know what I mean." Oscar let his head fall into his hands at this comment, shaking it, but Dalton didn't notice or chose to ignore it and continued to rattle on. "Alec heard she's a handful. I'll tell ya, I'm sure _I_ wouldn't mind gettin' a handful of that. I'm callin' dibs, by the way."

Dalton shook his head to clear the distracting thoughts of sexy little Kazi. "But, anyway, back on track here. All the girls here are totally hot, and worse off, they know it. Combine that with transgenic attitude, and what you've got is one hell of a challenge. You really wanna fumble around with a trannie girl your first time without having a bit of experience under your belt? You know how girls talk around here, man. I, for one, do not want to be the laughing stock of TC, and I don't think you do either."

Even though it was completely crude and embarrassing, Dalton did have a point. "What the hell are you suggesting?" Oscar asked.

Dalton reached over to smack Oscar on the shoulder. "That we _get _some experience, brother!"

Oscar was taken aback at this. The prospect was scary, and at the same time exciting, but he had no fucking idea how Dalton planned to accomplish it.

"If you're talking blow-up dolls, Dalton, I swear..." Oscar would only go so far. This comment; however, earned him a hard smack upside the head. He cringed, shoulders coming up almost to his ears.

"No, you dumb shit!" Dalton said angrily. "I'm talking ordinaries! On the outside, man!"

Oscar's mouth fell open and his eyes shot wide at this. He immediately began to shake his head. "No, no, no, no. We are not sneaking out of TC. No way. You saw how much trouble you and Alec got into the last time you snuck out. No fuckin' way!"

Dalton's face fell a bit at the reminder of that horrible time, but he quickly covered it with a smirk. He had learned a lot from hanging around Alec. "As you well know, that was not the last time we snuck out. That was the time before last. The last time, there was no trouble at all. White's in hiding or something, man. We just play it casual and we'll have it made."

Oscar was still shaking his head. Breaking the rules went against every fiber of his being. Dalton, however, had been hanging around Alec for far too long, and therefore breaking the rules was what he lived for.

Dalton threw up his hands in exasperation. "When was the last time you got out of TC, huh? A year ago? Aren't you going stir crazy? Come on, Oscar! We're fifteen now! Don't you think it's time we got to live a little?"

"Fifteen?" Oscar asked, puzzled. "What do you mean, we're fifteen? How would you know?"

"Because I decided that today I turn fifteen, so that means you're fifteen, too. We come from the same batch, man, probably the same damn tech mixing up our genes. Our designations are so close, we could practically be twins." Dalton's designation was 818, and Oscar's was 821. Dalton's logic was somewhat flawed, as he was completely ignorant of Manticore's barcoding system, but it sounded good, so it worked for him. "It's our birthday! We need to celebrate! And what better way to celebrate than watching scantily clad women remove what little clothing they have and flaunt what they've got right in your face?"

Oscar's brain was so awhirl with conflicting thoughts, it was starting to hurt. Part of him was overwhelmed by Dalton's gesture of friendship and brotherhood. The thought of sharing a birthday with Dalton, of even having a birthday, brought up a whole set of emotions that he really had no experience with. Another part of him kept screaming _NO, NO, NO_ at the thought of breaking the rules. But a small, tiny, secret part of him that he normally kept so tightly locked down that it never saw the light of day thrilled at the thought of seeing the outside world again. But there was something he needed to know before he even considered going along with whatever crazy plan Dalton had cooked up.

Oscar raised his head and stared into the other boy's blue eyes. "Why?"

Dalton raised one finger in the air, his face completely serious. "Dude, one word. _Lapdance_."

Oscar's gaze turned faraway as he momentarily paused to ponder the possibilities in the word _lapdance_. He quickly remembered his purpose, and gave his head a quick shake.

"No. I mean, why me?" Oscar suddenly seemed fragile, as if the wrong word might cause him to crack. "There are any number of guys that would go with you, hell, that would jump at the chance. So why me?"

"Because, Oscar, my friend, you are Border Patrol. Zev has the border zipped up so tight, I'll never be able to get out without an inside man."

Dalton saw Oscar's face fall at this, and the other boy nodded, as if expecting that there had to be an ulterior motive. Dalton smirked at what he knew was a typical Oscar reaction; he was so predictable. He offered a hand to the other X-6 to help him up.

"And besides," Dalton continued, "contrary to what you may think, I happen to like your uptight, introverted, self-esteem challenged ass." He continued to hold his hand out to the other boy, eyebrows raised as he waited for a response.

Oscar looked up at Dalton hovering over him, trying to gage what he had just said. He saw nothing but pure honesty in the other boy's face. It was the face of somebody that could be a friend, and Oscar didn't really have any of those. He'd always kept himself apart so that he didn't make any friends. He had lost too many of them at too early an age back at Manticore, and at some point, he had shut himself off from other people. That way it didn't hurt so much when they disappeared or were shot in the head right in front of you. But that was then, and this was now. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to have a friend.

Oscar reached up and grasped Dalton's forearm, and the other boy helped lever him up. He didn't let go right away. He had to look up slightly at Dalton, since Dalton's recent growth spurt put him about two and a half inches taller than Oscar.

"Okay," Oscar said, giving Dalton's arm a shake before letting go, nodding not only in acknowledgment of Dalton's big plan, but his offer of friendship.

Dalton's smile showed every single one of his perfect teeth. "I knew you'd see things my way." He clapped Oscar on the shoulder, and they started to walk down the alleyway. "All right, now here's the plan."

The two teenagers walked the back streets of Terminal City, plotting a night of debauchery as seriously and efficiently as four-star generals plotting troop movements for a major offensive. Genetically engineered or not, to adolescent boys with raging hormones, gettin' their freak on was very serious business indeed.

* * *

A/N: In case you haven't noticed, this story is not about Max and Alec. They will be making appearances, but it is really all about Dalton and Oscar. I hope to throw enough Max and Alec in to keep you M/A fans satisfied. Stay tuned. 


	2. Countdown

Boys Will Be Boys

by Inzane

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from the Dark Angel universe.

Summary: Just how much trouble can two transgenic teenage boys get into? A story about my favorite X-6's from The Friggin' Cure universe, Dalton and Oscar.

Warning: Language.

A/N: This chapter sort of snuck in due to a sizeable appearance by Max and Alec. They were rather insistent, so I let them have their way. I'm sure all you Max/Alec fans out there won't mind. It's sort of a transitional chapter, so please be patient. The boys will have some fun soon enough.

Oh, and sorry it's late. The site was being rather particular about uploading documents.

* * *

Chapter 2: Countdown

Dalton walked through Command, working hard to keep a lid on his excitement. In less than an hour, he was scheduled to meet up with Oscar and they would put the plan into action. But for now, he was trying to get through the rest of the day without tipping someone off that something was going on.

The real test would be Alec. He had to drop off the reports from the department heads and give Alec a brief rundown of pressing issues. He hoped that he could get through it without Alec figuring out that something was up. He had actually stood for fifteen minutes in front of his mirror earlier, working on his poker face. He sincerely hoped that he had it down. But, try as he might, he couldn't keep himself from repeatedly checking his watch.

The X-6 climbed the stairs to the second level offices, taking a deep breath in preparation to face Alec. He stepped into the SIC's office, ready to call out a greeting, but came up short as he saw the room was empty. Not that it was unusual for Alec to miss a scheduled meeting (the X-5 seemed to buck anything that reminded him of the rigidity of Manticore... such as a schedule); it was just that Dalton figured he could not have been so lucky to get off that easy.

He let out the breath that he hadn't known he'd been holding, then prepared to drop the reports on the desk and make a quick exit. Just then, he heard Alec's and Max's voices through the thin wall, coming from Max's office next door. He froze right as he was about to cross the threshold to escape, frowned, and took a few steps back into the room. Alec would give him hell for bailing on him, since they needed the information for the next council meeting, and he figured it would probably look more suspicious if he left without giving his report.

He tuned out his other senses and focused on his hearing, then huffed and threw himself down on Alec's short couch. Max and Alec were arguing as usual, so he figured it could be a long wait. He glanced nervously at his watch again, trying to figure out how much time to give Alec before he would end up missing his rendezvous. He glared at the common wall between the two offices, wishing that for once they would keep it quick so they wouldn't ruin his plans.

* * *

Alec sat on the edge of Max's desk, legs outstretched and crossed at the ankles, his head bowed with a hand to his forehead. His other half, the love of his life, the owner of his heart, was currently being a large pain in his ass. He lowered his hand and raised his head to watch her as she paced angrily back and forth in her small office.

"I cannot believe you are so spun over a stupid little comment. Come on, Max, it's no big deal."

A group of three transgenics--all male--had arrived earlier that day, and Alec had made some wiseass comment like he usually did, which he couldn't even recall at the present moment, that had let the guys know that Max was unavailable. It never seemed to bother Maxie before... well, not _this _much, anyway. She had always just rolled her eyes and put up with it before. This time was different, and he wasn't sure why. Maybe she was just in a bad mood. Or maybe she was really just mad about something else, and was taking it out on him. Yeah. That could be it.

_Oh, who the hell am I kidding, here? I have no idea why she's pissed. After all this time, I still can't figure her out._

Max stopped her pacing, halting in front of him to face him at his words, arms crossed and eyes glaring. "Really? Then why do you keep doing it?"

Uncrossing his ankles, Alec plastered his best boyishly charming look on his face and reached for her, hoping to use a little sexual coercion to make her forget that she was mad at him. He figured there was only about a ten percent chance that he would succeed, but it was worth a shot.

"Aw, Maxie..." he wheedled as he grabbed her wrist and gave it a gentle tug to try to pull her to him. He received a stinging slap on the hand for his efforts, and quickly released her, pulling back his hand and frowning. _Damn_. Looked like they were gonna fall into that other ninety percent tonight.

"Don't you Maxie me!" she scolded him, voice escalating as she leveled a finger at him. "I am not a possession, dammit!"

Alec couldn't keep his own temper and voice from rising at Max's hostile tone. "You think I don't know that, Max? 'Cause I do. I happen to know that better than anyone in this whole goddamn city!"

Max and Alec were completely unaware of their unwilling audience in the next room: a poor, cringing Dalton. As he listened to the fight, he was not sure if he should continue to wait for Alec and sit through the battle of wills that was to come, or run for the hills.

Max turned her back and walked a few steps away from Alec, stopping and staring at her office door, her hands tight fists at her sides, knuckles white. Alec couldn't stand it when she turned away from him like that. A very small, very tiny part of him still felt like he didn't deserve her, and that someday she was gonna realize it and just walk away. He didn't think it would happen, not really... not after all they'd been through. But that fuckin' little part of him couldn't help but remind him of infinitesimal possibilities.

He sighed and ran a hand through his dark blonde hair. His own smartass mouth had gotten him into this, and he would have to find a way to dig himself out.

"I also happen to know that you're extremely hot, Max. I'm just saving myself from having to pound on someone later, okay?" Unfortunately, this comment shoveled more dirt on instead of digging him out.

Max spun around, a hurt look in her eyes. "Don't you trust me?" She had never really questioned the reason Alec always warned other guys away from her, and today, for some reason, it was all she could think about. The _why_ of it, and what it might imply.

Alec threw up his hands, a look of disbelief on his face. "Fuck, Max, are we back to this again?"

About three months before, Max and Alec had gone through a pretty rough patch, all due to a rather persistent new X-5 named Tara that had shown up in Terminal City. Shortly after she arrived, she had set her sights on the top ranking alpha male--Alec--and didn't seem to care that he was already involved with someone. She worked to drive a wedge between Max and Alec, and her final effort had been to purposely slip into Alec's office when she knew Max was headed that way and throw herself into Alec's lap, arching her back and pulling his shocked head down toward her cleavage. Max had walked in right at that moment.

Things hadn't gone too well after that. Max and Tara had a bit of a fight, involving Max pulling Tara off him by her hair, throwing her to the floor, and acquainting the girl with her fist, several times. When it was over and Max stood in triumph over the attempted usurper, Alec had stood to thank Max for rescuing him from the girl's unwanted attentions. He immediately found his own face on the wrong end of Max's fist, and he had just stared after her in shock, hand to his aching jaw, as she stormed out of the room.

It had taken him a while to process what had happened, and so he hadn't caught up to her until she'd already made it back to their apartment. There had been a lot of yelling and accusations, and he found that his sordid history with the fairer sex had come back to haunt him. They had finally been forced to face the issue of trust, and found that they weren't on as solid ground as they'd thought. Max couldn't seem to forget his past, and Alec couldn't get past the fact that Max didn't trust him. He'd spent two nights sleeping on the couch, stubbornly refusing to bend, since he hadn't done anything wrong. He'd never cheated on Max. Hell, he had been faithful to her long before they were even a real couple.

It was Max that broke first, unable to take the separation from him any longer. She had jumped him in the middle of the night, and they'd had extremely energetic and emotional make up sex. The actual making up didn't happen until after the sex, when they'd had a deep and uncomfortable, but much needed, heart to heart discussion. The order of it all may have been completely messed up, but hey, they'd gotten the job done, so that was all that mattered. The incident had made them a lot stronger as a couple... or so he had thought.

"I thought we were past this." His voice got higher and louder as he spoke, unsuccessfully trying to reign in his anger and his hurt. "We've been together for six months now, four of those sharing a bed. After all this time, how could you even think…?"

Alec stopped himself, realizing he was about to start shouting. Max watched him as he bowed his head and closed his eyes, gripping the edge of her desk so hard that the old wood creaked under the pressure. He took a deep breath, held it, and then slowly released it. Max had seen him do that particular breathing exercise a lot, ever since he'd been shot in the chest. He did it when he was angry, to calm himself, but she knew he also did it when he was upset about something.

She cursed herself for reminding him of that uneasy time between them. She hadn't meant to take it that far. It was just that things always seemed to get so easily out of hand when they fought. She took a hesitant step toward him, but stopped when he started to speak again, his head still bowed, refusing to look at her.

"I do trust you, Max. Implicitly." He was silent for a moment, then added. "It's them I don't trust."

Max had been ready to end the fight, but once again found herself stirred up by his comments. "What, you think I can't handle 'em, that I can't take care of myself?"

Her tone suggested that he had damn well better answer the question the right way. Part of her had always feared that in getting involved with Alec, she would lose some of her credibility as a strong, independent woman.

Alec knew Max was tough, that she could handle herself against ordinary guys, and maybe some of the transgenic guys, but most transgenic males would be able to overpower her. He could himself, if he wanted to. He almost always let Max win when they fought, but he knew that other guys wouldn't. He remembered the guy that came in a month ago that they had to lock up for trying to force himself on a girl. They hadn't known what to do with him at first. They had talked about exiling him, but were afraid that he might do something on the outside to put transgenics in a bad light. So Alec, Mole, and Wil, who the council had placed in charge of internal security after the incident, had beaten the piss out of him when they had finally let him out, warning him that if he even touched another girl they would make sure he'd never use his favorite _weapon _ever again.

Alec was so afraid that someday someone would try to make a move on Max and wouldn't take no for an answer. So he always let it known that she was taken, that she had someone watching out for her, because if someone ever tried force himself on Max, he was knew that he wouldn't stop at just a beating. But he couldn't tell her that. Not ever.

"I know you can take care of yourself, Maxie, but that's not gonna stop me from wanting to pound every guy that looks at you the way _I_ look at you into fuckin' hamburger." He finally raised his head to look at her, his emotions riding clear and unmasked behind hazel-green eyes. His head tilted, and his voice softened on his next words. "And you being able to take care of yourself is not gonna stop me from _wanting_ to take care of you."

Alec saw the fight drain from Max, and he reached out again to grab her wrist and pull him to her. She didn't fight him this time; he brought her close so she was standing between his legs, and he linked his hands behind her back. He leaned forward until his forehead lightly touched against hers.

"Isn't that the point of this whole relationship deal?" he asked quietly, eyes closed. "That we take care of each other?"

Max smiled fondly at him and brought a hand up to touch his cheek. He had her there. And she really wasn't upset that he kept staking his claim on her, so to speak. Because, when she thought about it, it went both ways. It let the guys know that she was taken, but also let the girls know that Alec was taken as well, and she really had no problem with that. She just questioned his methods.

"Well," she said, pulling back to look at him while reaching around to tug lightly on the hair at the nape of his neck, "could you be a bit more casual about it next time? I half expected you to come over and piss on my leg to mark your territory."

Alec furrowed his brow and tilted his head, the look on his face indicating deep thought.

"Why, do you think that would work better?"

Max frowned crookedly and feinted a swat at his head, which he ducked. She knew he would, so she brought around her other hand to smack him upside the head.

Alec rubbed the side of his head and narrowed his eyes. "You are _so _gonna pay for that later."

This brought a suggestive smile from Max that caused Alec's temperature to immediately start rising, among other things. "Promises, promises," she said in a tone she usually reserved for the bedroom.

Alec reached down and yanked her tighter to him, her chest now brushed up against his own. "You know, Max, sometimes I think you pick fights with me just for the make up sex," he growled.

Max tilted her head up, bringing her lips to hover slightly below his, almost touching. "You got something against make up sex?" she purred.

Alec laughed, deep and masculine. "Not a thing," he replied.

* * *

At the sudden silence in the next room, Dalton rolled his eyes and decided to make a quick exit before Alec decided to give Max a preview of whatever he had planned for her for later that night. He so did not want to be in hearing distance of _that_. He could give Alec the updates later.

Max and Alec were a bit of a puzzle to him. It seemed like the pair were always either trying to tear off each other's heads, or each other's clothing. You never knew which way it would go. Dalton suspected it was often the first, followed by the latter. He sometimes wondered how they had lasted this long. But then there would be a moment when he'd catch the way they looked at each other, when they thought no one else watching, and he knew that though they may have a rocky relationship, he doubted anything but death would separate them now. Maybe, if you truly loved someone, it was worth the bumps and bruises, on your body as well as your heart.

Dalton shook himself. Those thoughts were way too serious for the night he had in store. He checked his watch again, and saw that it was soon time to execute the plan. He needed to make a quick exit before someone waylaid him with some request or some job that needed done. He was Alec's assistant, but the SIC had made it clear that when he wasn't doing something for Alec, he was on free loan to the rest of the command staff. As he crossed the threshold of the building and out into the night air without incident, he could feel his excitement building. It was only twenty minutes and counting until he was due to meet Oscar. Twenty minutes until party time.

* * *

Dalton and Oscar peered around the corner of the building at their planned escape route. It was a small steam grate that led to the tunnels below. The transgenics had found the access point a couple of days ago when they were clearing out the junk and debris from this alley, as part of Joshua's _Clean Up TC_ project. Months ago, the transhuman had taken it upon himself to arrange the cleanup of Terminal City, insisting that there was no reason they should live like derelicts. This was their home for the foreseeable future, and they should treat it as such. And so they had systematically started getting rid of the junk, and had come across several hidden sewer access points that Zev had immediately set to securing. She was bound and determined that no one would get by the border without her knowledge again. A breach still happened occasionally--mainly by Alec--but it was getting harder and harder to get out without notice.

Proof in point, Zev had a guard at this steam grate. Because the grate was so small, too small for a grown adult--but fortunately, just large enough for teenagers that had yet to reach their full size--Zev had only assigned one guard. And that guard just happened to be Trix.

Oscar pulled his head back from the corner, leaned his back against the wall of the building, and groaned, closing his eyes. "Trix. Why did it have to be Trix?"

Dalton, still peering around the corner, frowned and tried to gage his temporary enemy. The X-4 didn't look all that big and bad. It's not like they were going to fight her, anyway. He didn't see the problem.

He turned back to Oscar, a questioning look on his face as he shrugged. "Yeah, so it's Trix. So what?"

Oscar's eyes shot open and he pinned Dalton with an accusing look. "Because I happen to like Trix, that's what! A lot more than I like _you_! I don't want to lie to her."

Dalton made an exasperated noise, then pulled Oscar from the wall and gave him a shove toward Trix. "No time to back out now. Don't be such a pussy."

The two of them walked toward Trix, Oscar a bit stiffly. By the time they reached her though, no one would have ever known that the two teenagers were up to no good. They casually approached Trix, Dalton carrying some schematics of the tunnels on a clipboard and several colored pencils in his hands. He had printed the schematics out earlier today as part of their cover story.

Oscar exchanged pleasantries with Trix, and the two of them traded some small talk that had Dalton furiously trying to maintain his patience. He knew it was necessary to avoid suspicion, but it irritated him nonetheless. Like a lot of transgenics, he wasn't really gifted in the patience department. He relaxed a bit as he heard Oscar get down to business.

"Hey, Trix, Dalton here was ordered to report to Dix on the plans to secure this sector. He needs to note possible locations for surveillance, you know, the usual. I was just gonna walk him through the area, point out the spots we thought could use some attention. Thought we'd come right to the source instead of taking the long way around through the northeast tunnel. We can fit through there no problem."

Dalton was amazed at how completely earnest Oscar sounded. The guy really knew how to tell a believable lie. It must have been that baby face of his. It made people _want _to believe him.

"Sure, Oscar," Trix replied. She didn't even think to question what Oscar said. Oscar was Zev's second. He was above reproach, and she therefore completely bought the bullshit the boy was slinging.

Trix stepped aside, and Dalton leaned down to pull open the grate with a loud screech. As he lowered himself through the small hole, which was barely big enough to allow him to pass, he heard Oscar telling Trix that they would sweep this sector and the next, and that they would exit via the southeast tunnel, so she could close the grate behind them.

Dalton was impressed. He hadn't even thought of leaving a cover story that would explain why they didn't come back through the grate after a short time. He was sure learning some new things about Oscar on this little adventure. The guy normally kept everything so close to the vest, even from other transgenics, that Dalton suspected that none of them really knew the true Oscar. He wondered how much more of the true Oscar he would get a glimpse of tonight.

As he watched, Oscar dropped through the hole to land silently on the tunnel floor below. His jaw was clenched tight, and he didn't look at Dalton as he walked past him down the tunnel.

_Hmmm... looks like Oscar's a bit miffed. Could be interesting_.

When they had gone down the tunnel a bit, far enough to be out of range of Trix's hearing, Dalton figured he'd get in a little dig and see what happened. He'd never seen Oscar get pissed before, and he was curious.

"You know, for a guy that looks so honest, you sure know how to shovel a load of bullshit."

Without warning, Oscar turned on Dalton and gave him a shove, causing the other boy to stumble and his eyebrows to shoot up in amazement.

"Damn you, Dalton!" Oscar was upset. Upset he lied to Trix, upset they were breaking the rules, and upset that they might get caught. Oscar had never been a big believer in risk taking; he was more a follower of the cover-your-ass sect. His mind was already going into overload over what they had already done.

Dalton could see the conflict and guilt in Oscar, and he really didn't want to be dragging his morose ass around Seattle, much less a strip club. He had to snap him out of it, fast. He wasn't really the pep talk type, so he went his usual route and tried insults.

"Suck it up, you pansy. We got things to do."

"Things to do?! Is that all you care about? Well, to hell with that!" Oscar's voice raised in pitch, as he worked himself into a state. "It's _my_ ass if they find out how we got out!"

Dalton walked back over to the other X-6 to give him a friendly punch on the shoulder. "Come on, Oscar, live a little. How dull would life be if you never got into trouble? It builds character."

Oscar just glared back at him. He felt so off kilter, that he said his next words without thinking how they would affect Dalton.

"I remember the last time you got into trouble, Dalton, and no thanks, but I'm not interested in building that kind of character."

Dalton froze on the other teen's words. When Oscar had mentioned it before, it hadn't really bothered him that much. He could shrug it off. After all, it had been half a year since that night. Maybe it was because they were in the tunnels. The tunnels brought him too close to the memory. These were the tunnels where, bloodied and bruised, he had dragged a blood-soaked and dying Alec, thinking that every step they took could have been Alec's last. It had been the most horrible night of his life, and Oscar had just dared to make light of it.

All this went through his head in an instant. Oscar had no warning until he found himself slammed up against the tunnel wall, Dalton's forearm pressed hard into his throat. He hadn't even seen him move.

"Don't you talk about that! Don't you fucking dare!" Dalton spat, his face full of anger.

Oscar's eyes shot wide, and he was suddenly overcome with fear--the instinctual fear of the wrath of an alpha male. It was Oscar's fear, the fear that Dalton could smell on him, that finally brought him out of it. He blinked a couple of times, then slowly removed his arm from Oscar and backed away.

Taking deep breaths to try to calm himself down, he buried his hands in his hair and pulled hard. The pain helped bring him the rest of the way back to the present. He stopped pulling and ran his hands down over his head to rest on the back of his neck, which was suddenly full of tension.

"Just don't," Dalton said quietly, letting his arms drop bonelessly to his sides as he stared down the tunnel, unable to look at Oscar. "Not here," he added in a whisper.

Oscar saw the haunted look on Dalton's face and mentally cringed as he realized his mistake. Carefully, standing completely still so as not to draw any more attention to himself, Oscar murmured, "All right."

Dalton hung his head, then turned it to look over at Oscar. One side of his mouth quirked up in an almost smile. "Come on, Oscar," he said, his voice sounding tired, "don't make me break Max Law Number One."

When he first dropped into the tunnel, Oscar had been ready to forget the whole plan and go back to his bunk and sulk. But as he looked at Dalton, he realized that the other boy would not back down. Dalton would go on without him, and Oscar knew he couldn't let him go out into the big, bad world all alone.

"Fine," Oscar huffed, and then blew a puff of air at the hair that had fallen into his eyes, "but at the first sign of trouble, we are turning around, even if I have to knock you unconscious and drag your ass back here. Copy?"

Dalton's almost smile turned into a smirk. "Copy."

The strained atmosphere drained away, and they were once again just two teenage boys about to head off and do something they knew they shouldn't be doing.

* * *

A/N: I was trying to make this an angst free fic, but a little bit sorta just slipped in there. I don't know how it happened, really. Hmmm…I can see that you are not buying that. Okay, I admit it! I am an angst addict! I can't help myself!

If you are unfamiliar with Max Law Number One, please see my short fic _The Book of Max_ for an explanation.

Coming up – Boys' Night Out. Just to forewarn you, the boys plan to have some naughty fun, so this chapter will be rated M.


	3. Boys' Night Out

Boys Will Be Boys

by Inzane

Disclaimer: I do not own Dark Angel, or its characters. All original characters are mine.

Summary: Just how much trouble can two transgenic teenage boys get into? A story about my favorite X-6's from The Friggin' Cure universe, Dalton and Oscar.

Warning: Language, violence, inappropriate behavior, adult situations, illegal activities…oh, they are bad, bad boys! **This chapter is rated M.**

A/N: Sorry this is later than my usual standards. It ended up a lot longer than I thought it would be. Oh, and I also had to go out of town on a business trip. It's kind of a new thing for me. Thus begins the craziness that my job is swiftly becoming. Hopefully, I'll still be able to post on a fairly regular basis.

* * *

Chapter 3: Boys' Night Out 

"Are you kidding me?"

Oscar's words were a harsh whisper, but well below the range of human hearing. As he peered with Dalton over the edge of the building, brushing back the brown hair that had fallen into his eyes, he couldn't believe what the other boy had in mind.

"Drug dealers? You want us to roll some _drug dealers?!_"

Dalton turned his head to look at Oscar, moonlight accenting the look on his face that clearly said _why the hell not? _"We're gonna need money to do this thing right, man."

Oscar pushed back from the edge of the building, and grabbed Dalton's collar to pull him back as well, causing a small noise of protest from the other X-6.

"We're not supposed to tangle with ordinaries, and you know it. We can't risk the state of relations we have going right now with the government. If they find out that transgenics were out attacking ordinaries, we'll derail everything that we have worked so hard to..."

Dalton help up a hand to stop Oscar before he climbed up any higher on his soap box. "Yeah, I know. I sit in on the council meetings, don't I? But we're not talking about harming some innocent civilians, here. We're talking about _drug dealers_. They sell their shit to kids and get 'em strung out. They're scum, Oscar. We'd be doin' the ordinaries a favor!"

Oscar frowned, thinking about what Dalton said. It was true that they were going to need money to pull this whole thing off, and these guys certainly couldn't report that they were robbed of their hard earned drug money, now could they? It could work. The corners of his lips quirked as a smile tried to break free, but he shut it down fast. He didn't want Dalton to think he approved of this plan. The guy's ego was already big enough.

"How do you know they're sellin' to kids?" Oscar asked, baiting the other teen. A little thrill went through him when he realized he was purposely trying to piss Dalton off. He never would have dreamed of doing such a thing before... well, not on purpose, anyway. Damn, maybe getting into trouble did build character.

Dalton made a frustrated noise and pulled at his own hair. Oscar was gonna drive him fuckin' insane before the night was out. He was sure of it.

"What, you think they're drug dealers with hearts of gold? Come the fuck on!" He cringed when he realized that his voice had gotten loud enough that the humans might have overheard, and he quickly peeked back over the edge to check on them. They seemed unaware they were being watched, since they continued to finish a deal with what looked like a hooker and her pimp.

Assured that he hadn't blown their cover, Dalton turned away from the ledge and back to Oscar. "Look, if I prove these guys are pieces of shit, can we just knock them out, grab their cash, and proceed to the place of scantily clad women?"

Oscar pursed his lips, having a bit of fun with the game. "What do you have in mind?" he asked, looking at Dalton through hair that had once again fallen into his eyes. He could see the wheels spinning in Dalton's head as he went through scenarios, then see those gears come to a halt as they hit on the right plan.

"Heh, heh, heh," Dalton laughed, breaking into a devilish smile. "You know, sometimes, simple is best." He soundlessly scrambled over the edge of the building, grabbing on to the drainpipe and shimmying down a few feet, before coming back up to pop his head back over the edge. "Back me up, dude. You'll know when." He gave Oscar a quick wink, then disappeared.

"You've been hanging around Alec _way _too long, Dalton," Oscar whispered over the edge. He heard what sounded like a snicker come from somewhere below.

Oscar sat back on his heels. _Fuck_. _Why did I have to egg him on? __I have no fuckin' idea what Dalton plans to do, and now I'm gonna have to back him up on whatever the hell that turns out to be. _

Oscar absolutely _hated _going into things blind.

_Fuck!_

He peered back over the edge, watching the scene below, waiting to reluctantly jump in to whatever trouble Dalton was about to start.

* * *

Breaker and Slash (whose real names were actually Melvin and Carl) were well pleased with themselves. They'd had an excellent run that day, and had pulled in around $3,400. They felt they were moving up in the world, and moved to the back of the alley to split the take. 

Breaker was big man, and fancied himself a badass that liked to break heads, hence his street name. So far, he had only preyed on those weaker than him, because he really was a coward when it came to a fight he might not win. Slash was much smaller, and he felt his talents lay more with the knife. In truth, neither man was any good in a real fight, and therefore were no match for the opponent they were about to face. Even if they had been as good as they thought themselves to be, they still would have been outclassed by the blond-haired, blue-eyed fifteen year old boy casually rambling down the alley.

Slash spotted the intruder first, and nudged his partner. "Look, Breaker. Fresh meat." As Dalton drew closer and the men could clearly see that he was just a kid, they completely relaxed. Kids were always easy prey.

"Hey, fellas," Dalton said, keeping his tone casual. "Heard this was the place to score some shit."

Breaker nodded and opened his leather jacket, with sleeves cut off and a lot of zippers, showing the variety of product attached to the lining inside the garment. "Could be you're in the right place," he said, his voice a deep rumble.

Slash, the more business-minded of the two, took a step forward, trying for menacing but coming off as twitchy. "Let's see the color of your green, kid."

Dalton scratched his head, looking apologetic. "Well, see, I was hoping you could run me a line of credit, see, 'cause I don't get paid for my paper route for another two days."

Breaker slapped his jacket closed and seemed to puff up in size with anger. "Paper route! You little shit!" He lunged toward Dalton and grabbed him up by the throat--which Dalton allowed--holding him a foot or so off the ground. "You little suburban shitheads think you can come down here and fuck with us? You think you got balls? I should feed them to you, you fucker!" He gave Dalton a hard shake to punctuate his last word and started to squeeze, and the X-6 couldn't help but make strangled noises as his air was being cut off.

Dalton's hands were wrapped around the big man's wrists. He could have taken him out easy, but he didn't want to give an obvious display of transgenic strength. Even though they were only drug dealers, it was better that they didn't go telling tales of fifteen year old boys that could kick a grown man's ass. He was counting on Oscar to take them out from behind_. Where the hell was he? _The big asshole was really starting to hurt his throat. _Any time now, Oscar_, he thought. _Any time now, dammit!_

He heard a thud from the side, which happened to be Slash dropping in an unconscious heap to the ground. Breaker whipped his head to the side, but only caught a blur of something. He didn't see Oscar blur behind him, only felt a blazing pain in his skull that had his eyes rolling up in his head. He sank to his knees, dropping Dalton on the way down, then crashed face first into the ground.

Dalton sat on the ground, coughing a bit as he put a hand to his throat. He glared up at Oscar, an accusing look on his face. "You took your fuckin' time, didn't you?"

Oscar raised his eyebrows, his baby face completely innocent, offering a hand to help Dalton up. "I don't know what you're talking about. They're down, aren't they?"

Dalton took the hand, and was pulled to his feet. He stood directly in front of Oscar, staring down slightly at his supposedly innocent face. He figured that Oscar had delayed a bit on purpose, but he couldn't pick up any hint of guilt in his face. Damn, he was good!

Dalton huffed. "Yeah, I'll bet you don't," he replied sarcastically. He turned his head to look down at the fallen lowlifes. Time for business. He crouched down to retrieve the cash, then tilted his head in appreciation of the smaller man's leather jacket. He only paused for a second before reaching down to strip the man of the garment. He stood and shrugged into it. It was a little big, but he figured he'd grow into it soon enough. He looked over at Oscar, a big smile on his face.

"How do I look?" Dalton asked, arms held out to display his new jacket.

Oscar folded his arms and squinted at him as he frowned crookedly. "Like an idiot," he replied.

Dalton frowned at Oscar's less than enthusiastic response, shrugging his shoulders to readjust the jacket. He then crossed over to the giant that had been choking him and tugged the sleeveless jacket off him, tugging the drugs out of the interior pocket and dropping them onto the ground. He found a pair of sunglasses in one of the pockets, and tossed them and the jacket to Oscar.

"Well, then you're about to look like a bigger idiot. Put those on." When Oscar just stared at him, holding the jacket and glasses out in front of him, Dalton leveled a finger at him. "With that damn baby face of yours, there's no way you're gettin' in the door, no matter how much money we drop on the doorman. You look like you're ten, dude. These will hopefully make you look a little older."

Oscar rolled his eyes at Dalton, then did as he was told. His nose wrinkled as his transgenic sense of smell picked up the sweaty odor emanating from the too-big jacket. "Ugh. This thing smells."

"Good. That'll make 'em think you're more of a man."

Oscar sighed. He was really sick of hearing about his damn baby face. He wondered when the hell he would grow out of it.

"Fine, let's roll." He started forward, but Dalton grabbed him by the arm.

"Gotta make one more stop. Dermatologist office. We need to laser off these barcodes." They could have lasered them off back at TC, but not without someone wanting to know why.

Oscar drew his head back, incredulous. "Don't you think that should have been our first stop? You know, before we assaulted some ordinaries that could have spotted the nice little tattoos on the back of our necks that scream _TRANSGENIC?!_"

Dalton had the decency to look sheepish. "Sorta slipped my mind for a minute,"

"Slipped your mind," Oscar said, deadpan.

Dalton huffed, eyeing Oscar with a look that said _hypocrite_. "I didn't hear you chiming in about it."

Oscar threw up his hands. "Why the hell did I ever agree to go along with this crazy plan?"

Dalton smiled again, and clapped a hand on Oscar's shoulder. "Tits and ass, my friend. Tits and ass."

The other boy pursed his lips as he pondered the wonders of tits and ass. "Oh. Yeah. Now I remember."

* * *

Dalton and Oscar, each with a reddened patch of skin on the backs of their newly barcode-free necks, approached the back door of Naughty or Nice, the new strip club that had opened up down by the docks a few months ago. The pounding music could be heard a block away. Alec had heard about the place from one of his suppliers, and the story went that the girls there weren't adverse to doing a little _extra _if the price was right. At the thought of strip clubs, Alec had wistfully mentioned the bygone days back at the Blowfish Tavern, then had stage whispered a story about Max giving him a lapdance, which was cut short by Max slapping Alec on the back of the head. Dalton had ignored Max and Alec's antics, but had filed away the information on the strip club for a later date, and that later date had finally arrived. 

The boys confidently approached the bouncer manning the back door. Confidence was the key to getting inside. That, and the large roll of cash that Dalton had stashed inside the interior pocket of his newly acquired jacket.

The bouncer was a mountain of a man, with a skin that looked like smooth dark chocolate. He took pride in his appearance, and pride in his job. He was a good judge of character, and knew which customers to turn away. He could sense when someone was trouble. At least, he thought he could. He thought he might be losing his touch when his trouble radar went off as two young punks approached him. The taller one looked to be about fifteen or sixteen, with spiky blond hair and an attitude. The shorter boy looked younger, though he was obviously trying to hide it behind dark glasses and what looked like hair that had been hastily slicked back with a bit of water. They were just kids, but something about them made him uneasy. He had to be losing his touch.

Dalton eyed the man, and figured it was gonna take a good chunk of change to convince him. "Hey, man. Me and my friend here would like to check it out inside."

The bouncer shook his head. Because he already felt uneasy about them, there was no way he was gonna let these obviously underage kids inside. "Go home, boys. You ain't old enough."

Dalton could feel Oscar tense beside him, and casually took a step backward, stepping on the other boy's foot before he could either say something stupid or bolt. "Oh, we're old enough all right. I got a coupl'a friends here who'll vouch for us."

With that, Dalton reached into his pocket and pulled out the roll of cash, pulling one $50 bill off at a time while casually gaging the guy's reaction. When the man's eyes went wide at $500, Dalton stopped and held up the cash. "My friends, they're real stand up guys. Good friends to have." He raised his eyebrows in question and waited for the man to give in. He had no doubt the guy would let them pass.

The man's eyes went wide at the sight of the money. He didn't know where two kids would have gotten that kind of cash, and he didn't want to know. He did know that with the wad of cash the blonde kid was offering, he would be able to take his wife out in style next month on her birthday. He felt a twinge of conscience at letting two teenagers into the place, but the club would be safer for them than the streets around the docks. He reached forward and grabbed the cash, stuffing it into his pants pocket.

"Yeah, I guess it was a trick of the light. Sorry about the mix up. You gentlemen go right on in."

Dalton smiled and nudged Oscar in the ribs. They walked quickly past the doorman, before he changed his mind. As soon as they were past him, Oscar immediately ditched the sunglasses and smelly jacket, thinking good riddance.

The music got louder as they moved down the hall toward the main floor. As they stepped out of the hall into the club itself, they both came to an abrupt halt, overwhelmed by the sights, sounds, and smells assaulting their transgenic senses.

Dalton came out of it first. He glanced around, seeing more exposed female flesh than he had ever seen in his life. His smile showed every one of his teeth, and he forgot that he was supposed to be playing a cool, unaffected eighteen year old and let out a peal of boyish laughter.

"We've died and gone to heaven, man."

Oscar's mouth hung open, and he felt overloaded as he tried to look everywhere at once. A scantily clad waitress walked directly in front of Oscar and Dalton, and their heads turned in unison as they followed her path. Dalton turned back, then noticed Oscar's open mouth. He backhanded Oscar's chest, snapping him out of it.

"Try not to drool, Oscar. I don't think girls are really into it."

Oscar's only response was a grunt, but he snapped his mouth shut. Then he slowly turned his head to look at Dalton and raised his eyebrows. "Floorshow?"

Dalton gave another laugh. Apparently, the blood flow to Oscar's head already been rerouted south, and he was down to forming one word sentences. "Yeah, man, I think we should check out the floorshow before we get down to some serious business. 'Sides, I need time to scope the place out, find us the right contact to arrange some personal attention later."

Dalton didn't let himself get overly distracted by all the exposed flesh. He had a plan, and the plan wasn't just to look. He was horny as hell, and he planned to do something about it.

Oscar merely nodded his head, his attention on the honey currently shaking her mostly bare thing on the main stage. The X-6's made their way down to the lower floor and found an out of the way table where they wouldn't draw too much attention. They'd made it inside, and they wanted to make sure they didn't get thrown out before they attended to business.

Dalton sat back in his chair and sighed happily as he watched the stripper bump and grind to the music. Tonight was gonna be great. Everything was going exactly according to plan.

* * *

Sketchy sidled up to the bar at Naughty or Nice, plunking down some cash for a beer. Bottle in hand, he turned his back to the bar, leaning back against it to enjoy the view. And there were a lot of fine honeys in his view. 

Sky was around somewhere. His fellow bike messenger had come along as his wing man, but Sketchy had to admit, Sky wasn't a really good choice in that category. He had nothing against the guy, but Sketch couldn't help but think of the days when he and Alec had hit the clubs back in the old days. The ladies had always been drawn to Alec. There had always been plenty of girls to go around, and his buddy Alec had always been willing to share the wealth.

Unfortunately, Max would probably frown upon Alec going out to strip clubs with him, so he figured the good ole days were gone for good. He'd just have to make the best of it.

Sketchy reached into his pocket, casually thumbing the bills he had stashed there, which were destined for a new home in the g-strings of the fine ladies of Naughty or Nice. The stack was already pathetically thin. He'd have to ration them if he wanted to stay for more than a half hour.

He raised his beer to take a sip, then swallowed wrong and ending up coughing hard for a half a minute. He'd thought he'd spotted someone he knew on the other side of the room, someone that definitely should not be in a place like this. He squinted hard, raising up on his toes and moving his head to try to see around the crowd, looking for spiky blonde hair, but he didn't see any. Sketchy paused, scratching his head. Maybe he'd imagined it. He'd had quite a few beers already. Maybe it was nothing.

A hottie dressed in nothing but abbreviated chainmail passed by, and Sketchy's head turned to follow her. He immediately forgot about the person he thought he'd seen in favor of the shapely ass he wanted to see.

* * *

Oscar's head bobbed slightly to the music as he watched the dancer that had made her way over to their table. She had originally been dressed like a uniformed schoolgirl, with pigtails, a little white shirt, and extremely abbreviated plaid skirt. All the girls in the place were dressed according to the joint's theme–either naughty or nice. Oscar assumed the girl in front of him was supposed to be _nice_, but now that she was just down to that teeny little skirt, and her ample bare breasts were bouncing right in front of him, he revised his opinion and went with _naughty_. 

Oscar wondered for a millisecond where Dalton had wandered off to, but then promptly forgot him as the girl twirled closer to him, sending her skirt to the floor mid-twirl with a flick of her wrist. Now she was down to nothing but a g-string, a pair of white lacey socks, and high-heeled Mary Janes. She made her way over to his chair, and Oscar was completely fascinated by her gyrating hips. He reached in his pocket for the cash that he and Dalton had split before they made it to the club and slipped a bill into the girl's g-string.

The girl smiled at him, and then he felt fire run through his blood and his pants were suddenly uncomfortably tight when she reached down to ruffle his hair, messing up his slicked-back look and making it fall back into his face as it normally did.

"You're so cute!" she said in a bubbly, girlish voice, then flounced away to another table, because, apparently, schoolgirls were supposed to flounce.

Oscar watched her go with regret, eyes locked on her retreating bare ass, mind immediately conjuring up several fantasies, when he was startled out of his reverie by a hand clamping down on his shoulder.

'"Damn, Oscar," Dalton said, shaking his head, "you gotta quit lettin' people sneak up on you." He leaned closer and whispered, "You'd think you weren't even one of us." Even in his blood-flow-depleted, hormone-overrun brain, Dalton was smart enough not to mention the word _transgenic_.

"Shut up, Dalton," Oscar grumbled. He was a bit embarrassed that Dalton had managed to sneak up on him. _Again_. He figured he needed to do something to ease his raging hormones, because they were starting to make him look bad. Worse yet, he could end up getting busted or even killed by his lack of attention. He hoped White wasn't the type to frequent strip clubs.

Dalton dropped heavily down into the chair next to Oscar. "Don't get your panties in a twist. I've got just the thing to cheer you up." He leaned forward, lowering his voice to a conspiratorial tone. "I've managed to arrange private dances for each of us. They've got privacy booths on the second floor. Had to drop a grand on the guy to convince him, but were in! Come on!"

Dalton grabbed Oscar by the back of his shirt to pull him up. As they proceeded up the stairs to what awaited them, both boys tried hard to conceal their excitement. They knew that it wouldn't really impress the girls to have stupid grins on their faces when they tried to convince them to engage in a little extracurricular activities during their private dances.

* * *

The X-6's walked down to the end of the second-floor balcony that overlooked the scene below. The man Dalton had bribed waited at the end, standing next to two of the club's strippers. The redhead was dressed like a dominatrix, all black leather and metal studs. The blonde was dressed in silk and lace, and an affected look of innocence. 

The man couldn't help but smile at the two kids that had managed to come up with a grand to bribe him for private lapdances. He remembered being that young.

"Fellas, this is Fiona," he said, gesturing to the dominatrix, "and Beth," gesturing to Miss Silk and Lace. "Girls, you show these gentlemen a good time, you hear?" Shaking his head and laughing, he walked off.

The two strippers eyed the boys in front of them. They both knew that these kids must have paid a pretty penny to be able to convince Larry to let them have a private dance. The taller boy, with spiky blonde hair and vivid blue eyes, stood with a cocky arrogance, but they could see that he was working hard to maintain that attitude. The other boy, looking much younger, wasn't as good at projecting a cool exterior and seemed like he was about to pop.

Any money they were both still virgins.

Fiona elbowed Beth, and nodded her head toward the boys. "Looks like we have a couple of bad boys here, Beth."

"Yeah," Beth replied, drawing out her words seductively, "we know just what to do with bad boys." She reached forward and grabbed Oscar by his shirt. She managed not to laugh as he let out a little squeak of surprise, and dragged him into the room behind her, shutting the door with a loud click.

"Well," Fiona drawled huskily, letting her eyes run up and down the boy in front of her. She could tell that in another year or two, he was gonna be breakin' hearts. "I guess that leaves you to me. Lucky you."

She stalked up to him, moved to his side, and gave him a shove, sending him stumbling through the doorway to the private room beside them. She was shocked for a moment at how much force she had to use to shove the kid, but she quickly forgot about it as she planned to get down to business.

She kicked the door shut behind her, then moved to the kid and pushed him backward until his legs hit the back of the chair that was bolted to the floor in the middle of the room and he plopped down into it, hard. As he stared up at her, she leaned forward and put her hands on the back of his chair, trapping him, her leather-clad breasts directly in front of his face.

"Don't worry," she breathed, "Fiona'll take care of you." When the kid's eyes widened at the sight of so much cleavage that close to his face, she laughed evilly.

This was gonna be fun.

* * *

Dalton was nervous as hell, but he hoped he was hiding it well enough that Fiona didn't think he was a complete dork. He couldn't help but stare at her ample assets, which were hovering just inches in front of his face. She was wearing a very tight leather bustier, from which those assets were practically spilling out. He really wished that gravity would be kind to him, because a little spill in this case would be much appreciated. 

He blinked when suddenly there was a lack of cleavage in front of him. Fiona had straightened, flicking her long, straight red hair over her shoulder. She moved over to a console built into the wall and pressed a few buttons. The lights dimmed music began to play. Her butt swayed in time with the music for a moment, then she turned and sashayed toward him. She looked down at his face, and suddenly she saw a hint of doubt in her eyes.

_Shit_.

Fiona stilled and placed a hand on her hip. "Just how old are you, kid?"

Dalton reached into the interior of his jacket and pulled out a wad of cash. "Eighteen," he replied, staring her in the eyes and willing her to believe him, or believe in his money. Either one would suffice.

The corner of Fiona's blood-red lips quirked, and she moved forward again in time to the music, reaching to grab the wad of cash. "Sure you are, sugar."

If the kid had money to burn, then who was she to tell him how to spend it? She figured he was about fifteen or sixteen, so its not like she was gonna warp his mind or something. Why not show him a good time? The more she thought about it, the more she got a charge out of the idea. The kid would probably never forget this night.

She smiled, and got down to business.

Dalton held tightly on to the seat of the chair as Fiona danced around him. As she began to lose her clothing, bit by agonizing bit, occasionally brushing up against him, his grip got tighter and tighter until he could feel the metal of the chair start to warp beneath his hands. Realizing what he was doing, he immediately loosened his grip, not wanting to advertise his superior strength.

The dance went on for a while, and he was _really _enjoying it--as evidenced by the bulge in his pants--but he was now trying to figure out how to suggest some more _hands on _activities to her without sounding like a complete idiot or a perve.

_I should have thought of that! Why didn't I think of that in advance? Me and Oscar planned out every other detail, but never how we should suggest sexual favors. I've got a hard on the size of Seattle and I have no idea how to get her to do something about it. _

_Fuck!_

Luckily for Dalton, Fiona solved the problem for him.

As the music slowed to a more sultry beat, she knelt down in front of him. Down to nothing but her g-string, she slowly ran her hands up his legs. Dalton's one leg began to jitter up and down under her touch. He would have tried to still it, but he was barely capable of coherent thought.

"I see your pants are gettin' a little tight there, sugar," she purred. "For another hundred, I could help you out with that."

Dalton was freaking out, but the small part of his brain that was still capable of thought overrode that, and he told himself to chill the fuck out, that this was what he came here for.

He reached his pocket and pulled out a hundred. He tried hard to keep his hand steady, but couldn't stop the slight tremor as he held out the cash. He tried to reply, but his voice started to crack and he had to clear it before he could speak.

"Sure." The word came out hardly louder than a whisper.

His heart began pounding furiously in his chest as she reached for the cash, slowly slid it down the front of her body, then slipped it inside her g-string. He thought it would stop when she reached for his zipper.

* * *

As Fiona was shoving Dalton into the other room, Beth dragged Oscar into her private room and dropped him into the chair. She went over to the console and started up some music. When she turned back, she saw the boy was sitting stiffly in the chair, but watching her every move. 

She started the dance, and had to keep herself from laughing as the boy tried to hold himself still in the chair. He was almost vibrating with tension. His hair fell into his eyes, and he blew up a puff of air to get it out of the way. _God, this kid was adorable_.

Beth danced closer to him, then she found she couldn't help herself as she reached in and pinched his cute little baby face cheeks. "Aren't you just the cutest thing!" she crooned. When the boy frowned, probably considering it an insult to his burgeoning manhood, she realized her error and quickly distracted him by losing her top. It worked, because the frown disappeared.

Beth went through her usual moves, making them just a little more innocent for this kid. His face just screamed innocence. She still planned to give him quite a show, however. After a while, when she was down to just her g-string, she figured if the kid's eyes got any wider they would pop right out of his head. The kid's pants looked uncomfortably tight, so she decided to go ahead and make a move. Might as well let the boy have some fun.

She moved in close to him, and shook her bare breasts slowly back and forth in front of his face. "You wanna touch 'em?" she asked, sticking to her girlish voice. She was playing a nice girl tonight, after all.

Oscar hadn't had the courage to ask the girl for anything more than the dance. Truth be told, it had actually slipped his mind for a minute. Now that she was offering him something extra, his mind came to a screeching halt, and his body actually did begin to vibrate.

"I th-thought we weren't supposed to d-do that," he stammered, his face coloring a bright red. For once, he wished that he had hung around Alec like Dalton had, because then maybe he would have picked up some lines or something and not sounded like a little kid.

Beth leaned forward, and her blonde hair, curled into ringlets, fell forward to brush against her breasts. "Well, if you happen to have another fifty on you," she said, batting her eyes at him and pretending that he was the only guy that had ever gotten this offer, "I can make an exception."

Dazed, Oscar reached in his pocket and without looking, passed her a bill, which happened to be a hundred. Beth smiled at him. She didn't correct him, but almost felt guilty taking advantage of him, since the boy was so terribly cute. She slid the bill into her g-string then leaned in.

"Go ahead," she whispered, presenting her breasts to him.

Oscar could feel every beat of his heart, every drop of blood in his veins, as he reached hesitantly forward. He grazed his fingertips over the swell of her breasts, barely touching her.

Beth rolled her eyes. _Dear God, this boy was too good to be true_. He'd given her a hundred, and she decided she wasn't going to cheat him out of it. She grabbed his hands and molded them to her breasts. She heard the boy's breath catch in his throat, and she thought he just might be going into shock.

Just as Oscar came to his senses enough to realize he had a pair of breasts in his hands, loud noises and a few screams could be heard from outside the door. Beth whipped her head around at the noise, looking nervous. She bolted for the door, grabbing a robe hanging on a hook by it.

"Sorry kid," she said, shrugging into the robe, all trace of girlishness gone from her voice, "looks like your time is up." She gave him a little smile, then slipped from the room.

Oscar hung his head for a second, then smashed his fist into his leg.

"Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!"

The X-6 bolted from the chair and stepped out of the room onto the balcony. The other stripper, Fiona, ran out of the room next door and ran in the opposite direction. A very unhappy looking Dalton emerged from the room soon after, adjusting the zipper on his pants. He joined Oscar at the edge of the balcony, and both transgenics scanned the scene below to figure out what was going on. There was a bunch of cops down below, and the words _raid _and _illegal solicitation _were clearly heard over the din.

Dalton let out an angry huff. "Cops. Motherfuckin' Cops! I was this close," Dalton said, holding his fingers a mere fraction of an inch apart, "_this close_, to gettin' my first blowjob, and they have to go and fuck it up!"

Oscar whipped his head back to Dalton at this, eyebrows raised. "She was gonna give you a blowjob?"

"Please, don't remind me of what I'm missing," Dalton growled, then reached up to turn Oscar around and pointed to the end of the balcony. "Let's scram before we get pinched by those assholes."

"No blurring," Oscar called over his shoulder. "We don't want anyone to spot that were not exactly your average teenager."

"Yeah, yeah. Do I look like an fucking idiot? Get moving," Dalton groused, giving Oscar a shove. He was still having a hard time getting over the interrupted bj.

His mind got off it in a real hurry when his enhanced eyesight took in the cops heading up the stairs to the second level. He and Oscar backpedaled, then turned to head in the opposite direction. Unfortunately, more cops were closing from the other end. Dalton came to a halt, and Oscar bumped into him.

"Back," Dalton said in a hushed and semi-frantic tone. They could not afford to get caught by the cops. Though it wasn't the prospect of getting caught by the cops that worried him; it was the thought of what would happen when their brethren back at TC found out.

Dalton was particularly afraid of what Max would do to him. He's seen her do some damage to Alec, both verbal and physical, and he didn't want that kind of attention turned on him. He had gotten close to Max when Alec was in the coma after he'd been shot, and he considered her a friend, but sometimes, the woman downright scared him.

Dalton and Oscar backed up until they came to a narrow hall that lead deeper into the second floor. They scurried down it, and found themselves in a second section of private rooms. But as their sucky luck would have it, there were no exits.

"Shit," Dalton and Oscar both said in unison. They could both hear the footsteps of the police officers who were closing in. They turned to look at each other, then both boys must have had the same thought at once, because both their heads titled up to look at the top of the privacy rooms. The rooms had been added on to the floor, and there was a fairly large space between the top of the rooms and the ceiling. A perfect hiding spot.

No further communication was necessary. Both X-6's jumped silently up to the edge of the rooms, then rolled until they were out of sight. They'd made it out of sight just in time, as two police officers entered the hallway ten seconds later and began searching the rooms.

The transgenics pushed a bit further back from the edge to wait until the coast was clear. They waited ten minutes, but the cops didn't seem to be leaving.

Oscar turned to Dalton and whispered below the range of human hearing, "This is all your fucking fault!"

"My fault!" Dalton whispered back, also below human hearing. "I didn't notice you complainin' earlier when Beth hauled you into that room! Or when you were slipping ten dollar bills down the strippers g-strings. Or when you..."

"All right!" Oscar interrupted, eyes narrowed. "I get the point. Just shut up and think of a way outta here."

Dalton shrugged. "What's to think? We just wait it out. Cops'll clear everybody out, then we wait a bit and bail."

Oscar bit his bottom lip and looked a bit nervous. "I dunno, Dalton. These rooms look pretty shoddy, like they were just slapped together. I don't think they'll hold our weight for the rest of the night."

Dalton frowned at his fellow X-6. "There you go again. Fuckin' jumpy. You're a regular Mr. Gloom and Doom, ya know?" Dalton pushed up on his forearms, to try to take a casual glance over the side to see what the cops were up to. "There's nothing wrong with these..."

Dalton had been about to say _rooms_, but a moment after he had shifted his weight to raise himself up, there was a sudden groan from the wood below him, and for a moment he felt weightless as the floor (or ceiling, as it were) collapsed beneath him. He only had time for one word.

"_**Fuck!**_"

Dalton tumbled through the hole left by the suddenly missing ceiling, crashing down hard onto the floor below, followed shortly by Oscar, who landed right on top of him, causing Dalton to let out a loud grunt. Both boys were covered in powdery white drywall dust.

Dalton groaned. "You just had to say it, didn't you? You just _had _to jinx us!" He jerked his body, pushing his arms against the ground to try to dislodge Oscar. "Get off me."

Oscar was too busy coughing from all the dust to listen to Dalton. But he stopped suddenly when a shadow suddenly fell across them.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?"

Both Dalton and Oscar raised their dust-covered heads to the source of the sound. The voice was young and female, and belonged to the officer standing in the doorway, her uniform crisp and not a hair out of place. Her partner, a balding man sporting a generous spare tire around the waist, stood behind her, looking over her shoulder, a smile on his face.

"I'd say we got ourselves a coupl'a boys thought they'd play at being men, Jenkins." He couldn't help but laugh at the looks on kids' faces. When he'd seen that the stowaways were just kids, he'd expected them to be scared, but these kids just looked pissed. Must have ruined their fun.

Jenkins stepped forward into the room until she hovered over the two boys, with a disapproving look on her face. She wondered if these kids' parents knew what they had been up to. Well, they would know soon enough.

"I'm afraid you boys will have to come with us."

Dalton sank back down, letting his forehead rest on a part of the collapsed ceiling he had fallen on. He grunted when Oscar rolled off him to land on his back beside him.

"I really hate you right now, Dalton," Oscar said with a resigned sigh.

"The feeling's mutual," Dalton replied, his voice equally resigned.

* * *

Max lay naked on the bed, the sheet draped lightly over her lower body. She sat up slightly, propping herself up on one arm, and just watched her lover as he slept. 

Alec lay on his stomach facing her, his left arm hanging off the side of the bed. His well-toned back was exposed, and the sheet fell across him low enough that she caught a just a glimpse of his ass. He'd always accused her of having an obsession with his ass. She hated to admit that he was right. But now, when he was asleep, she could look all she wanted without having to deal with his smart-ass comments and overdeveloped ego. And if she just happened to shift her legs a bit so that the sheet drifted down a bit further so she could take a better look, well, she was pretty sure that it was accidental.

During the day, his cocky smirk and mischievous eyes were part of what made him so damn sexy, but late at night, when all of that fell away and he was at peace, he was absolutely beautiful. She loved to watch him, in the dark hours when her shark DNA kept her awake long after him. Too many times, she was overcome by her insatiable desire for his body and found she couldn't keep her hands off him, waking him from a sound sleep so she could fulfill that impassioned need. Too many times, she'd feel a twinge of guilt when she'd find him nodding off the next day, worn out by the lack of sleep. She really needed to learn how to control her urges better, or she'd end up having to get Vash to treat him for exhaustion.

She was currently having a difficult time controlling her urges. She wanted to touch him, if only to snuggle up next to him, but was afraid that as soon as her bare skin made contact with his, she wouldn't be satisfied with just cuddling. It was often like that after they fought. She never seemed to be able to get enough of him. The fact that he was still asleep with her staring at him attested to how tired he really was. Usually, he could sense her watching him, even in sleep, and would often open one sleepy eye to stare back at her. But she didn't want to wake him--not this time. She needed to stay in control and let him get some rest after their earlier activities. The memory of that brought a satisfied smile to her face.

Alec had promised to punish her for that smack upside the head she had given him, and punish her he did. It was absolute torture, what he did to her. For over an hour, he'd taken complete control of her, holding her hands captive and refusing to let her even touch him. He drove her insane with his hands, his mouth, his body, but refused to give her that final act of completion. He brought her to orgasm after orgasm, so many that she'd lost count, until she couldn't take it anymore.

Her need became an actual, physical pain. She had begged him to finish it, but he had just laughed wickedly, driving her to even greater heights of pleasure but refusing her what she really wanted. She'd finally broke free of his grasp and had grabbed him by the hair, dragging him back up so he was face to face with her. With her teeth bared and her hands fisted in his sweat-soaked hair, she had looked him in the eye and demanded that he fuck her right then and there, or by God, she was gonna kill him. Fortunately, for the sake of keeping Max of sound mind and Alec of sound body, he complied. Vigorously. For quite some time.

_Poor baby. He's completely worn out._ Suddenly overcome with emotion, Max couldn't stop herself from leaning over him and gently kissing him on the back of his neck, lips softly brushing his barcode.

"I love you, Alec," she whispered against his skin. Neither of them said the words very often, but that made it even more special when they did.

The words must have registered in his subconscious, because a moment later Max heard the unmistakable soft rumble from his chest, purring his contentment. The sound struck a chord inside her as it always did, and she found herself blinking away sudden tears. She let her lips trace their way across his neck until they rested right over his ear.

"Always," she breathed, the word barely audible.

Urges back under control, she was about to snuggle down beside him when the radio sitting on top of the ramshackle dresser across the room squawked. Max flew off the bed in a silent blur, snatching up the radio and moving quietly out of the room so she wouldn't wake Alec. She'd decide if she needed to wake him after she heard the reason for the late night call.

"Go for Max," she said quietly into the radio, scooping up Alec's shirt from the floor near the door, where it had ended up when he'd stripped it off earlier, and pulled it on. She scanned the floor, looking for her underwear. She found it on the kitchen table, though she couldn't quite remember how it had gotten there. She grabbed the scrap of cloth and quickly slid it on.

_Max_, Luke's voice came through the radio, _I think your gonna need to come over here_. "Here" being Command.

Max froze, a chill running down her spine. "Is something wrong?"

Luke's voice, when he next spoke, sounded puzzled. _I'm not sure. But I think we may have a problem._

Max glanced back toward the bedroom, debating for a moment if she should wake Alec, then decided against it. Luke didn't sound alarmed, so she figured they weren't under attack or anything serious like that. She wanted him to be able to get more than four hours of sleep at a time, for once.

"All right. I'll be there. Just give me five. Max out."

_Command out_, Luke replied.

Max found her cargo pants hanging from the back of the couch, and quickly pulled them on. She tucked in the end of Alec's too-big shirt, stuffed her feet into a pair of sneakers that had seen better days, and popped in the bathroom to run a brush through her hair so she wouldn't have that freshly-fucked look. She figured everyone in Command that had been around for more than a month would know that she _was_ freshly-fucked, but still, she didn't need to let her looks advertise it. She grabbed a hair band and pulled up her long, dark tresses into a ponytail. She gave her reflection a nod, figuring she passed muster, then strode from the room and out the door.

When she arrived in Command, Luke immediately waved her over to the communications station. He immediately launched into a slightly excited description of the events that had led him to contact her.

"Max. I'm glad you're here. I was monitoring the police band, like I usually do, keeping an eye on what's going on out there. Always a good idea to know what the opposition is up to. I found a lot of interesting traffic tonight. Cops have some special ops going on. Nothin' against us, of course, but you can't be too careful…"

Max silently counted to ten as Luke went on, and willed herself to have patience. She was seriously trying to work on her leadership skills. "Get to the point, Luke."

Luke began pacing back and forth in front of his communications console. "Right. So anyway, I happened to hear about a raid down at this strip club on the docks, called Naughty or Nice. You know, the one that Alec was talking about after the meeting a few weeks ago. So I did just a bit of digging, you know, just idle curiosity of course…"

Max ground her teeth. He had dragged her away from Alec's warm body for this? "Luke…" she said, her tone threatening that he'd better get to the damn point, and fast.

Sensing Max was losing her patience, he quickly grabbed her arm and dragged her over to look at the police report he had pulled up on the monitor. "Here. Look," he said, pointing at the screen.

Max glanced at the screen, scanning through the report with transgenic speed. It was a preliminary report filed by an Officer Jenkins, reporting taking two teenage boys into custody during the raid on the strip club. As Max read on, her eyebrows drew together in a frown. The two boys involved refused to give their names to the police, but the description of them was disturbingly familiar.

"Do you think…?" Luke asked, sounding slightly worried. He hadn't wanted to wake Max or Alec up (or interrupt whatever else they might have been up to) for no reason, but on the off chance that he was right… well, he couldn't risk not telling them, especially considering how close they were to Dalton.

Max straightened, crossing her arms over her chest. "No," she said, trying to convince herself. "They wouldn't do something that stupid." She paused for a moment, then qualified her statement. "Okay, Dalton would probably do something that stupid, but the description of the other kid sounds a lot like Oscar from the Border Patrol. No way Oscar would do something that stupid. That kid doesn't breathe without first making sure it's not against the rules."

Wil, the X-5 in charge of internal security and who was currently manning the nearby surveillance station, had his feet propped up on his console, and had been listening in to the conversation. He laughed when he heard Max's response.

"I think you are really underestimating the power of raging male hormones, Max."

As if in agreement with Wil's assessment, the communications board chirped, indicating an incoming call. Luke picked up the headset and answered the call. After listening for a moment, he passed the headset to Max.

"It's your friend Sketchy. He wants to talk to you. Said it was important."

Max took the headset from Luke and placed it over her head, muttering, "What now?" She took a deep cleansing breath, then said, "Hey, Sketch," in a forced happy tone.

_Uh, hey Max. Good to hear your voice. _Sketchy sounded a bit uncomfortable, and Max was afraid he may have gotten his stupid self into some kind of trouble again.

"You too, Sketchy. What's shakin'? You told Luke it was important."

_Yeah, well, umm…_

"Spit it out, Sketch."

_Okay. Well, I just happened to be down by the docks with Sky, and we just happened to be in the neighborhood of this new club down there, where a gentleman can go to spend time with an assortment of fine, upstanding young ladies…_

Max snorted. She knew where this was going. "Let me guess. Naughty or Nice."

_Damn, how'd you know? _

"Call it woman's intuition. Don't tell me you need us to bust you outta jail, 'cause if that's the case, you're fresh outta luck. "Fraid in this case, you do the crime, you do the time, ya know what I mean?"

_No, no, that's not it. You think I'd pay a girl just to get some action? Okay, okay, yeah, maybe I would, if I had that much money. But Sky and me were just leavin' when the police showed up to raid the place. I stuck around, intrepid reporter and all, you know, see if a could get a good scoop. Things died down, I was about to split when I spotted the cops bringing out two boys._

"Don't tell me," Max groaned, already knowing what he was going to say.

_One of them was Dalton. I'm not sure who the other kid was, but I'm pretty sure he's one of yours. Think I remember seeing him last time I was at TC._

"Dammit. I told you not to tell me."

Sketchy sounded sheepish. _Sorry, Max._

Max hung her head, rubbing at her forehead to try to ease the headache that was swiftly forming. "No, it's all right. Thanks for givin' us the heads up, Sketch."

_No problem, Max. You know I'm on the transgenic bandwagon and all that._

"Yeah, I know. I really'd love to chat, Sketchy, but I gotta think up a plan to get those little dumbass punks outta jail."

Sketchy's coughed, and she could tell he was trying to conceal a laugh. _Good luck on that. Later._

"Later." Max nodded to Luke, who ended the transmission. She removed the headset and tossed it on the console, then turned to face Wil, who was trying hard to keep a straight face.

"Wil, can you send one of your guys over to wake up Alec and fill him in on what's going on?"

Wil dropped his feet from the console and stood up, taking a few steps toward Max. "Sure thing, boss, but what're you gonna do?"

What was she going to do, indeed? Max took a deep breath, counted to ten, then let it out. Then she mentally went through a litany of curses that would have made Mole stand up and applaud. She gritted her teeth, and the next words came out as a growl.

"I'm gonna go see Zev."

Wil raised his eyebrows. No one could hold a grudge like Max, and she had held that particular grudge against Zev for a half a year, since the night Zev had let Alec out of Terminal City, an act that in Max's mind had contributed to Alec almost dying that night. Now Max was gonna go see Zev? He almost wished he could follow along, just in case there was a girl fight, with hair pulling and possible torn clothing. Wil knew that with transgenic girls, it was more likely to involve deep bruises, broken bones, and possible internal injuries, but he hated to ruin his little fantasy. Max might be taken, but Zev was not, as far as he knew, and that girl was damn sexy.

Max pushed her way past Wil and Luke, fuming. As she passed, they heard her mutter, "When I get my hands on that boy, he's gonna wish they never mixed up his genes in a test tube." Max knew who the instigator was of the boys' little strip club adventure, and her wrath was focused on him.

Wil and Luke watched Max storm out of Command, her ponytail bobbing with each step. Wil shook his head.

"Poor Dalton. I think he'd actually be safer with the cops."

* * *

A/N: Just an FYI, I have no idea what drug dealers make on a good day, or the going rate for a lapdance or sexual favors, or proper police procedures (sorry, not a big fan of cop shows), so I kind of improvised there. Just go with it.

Also, thanks to T for suggesting Sketchy make appearance. Before that, I wasn't sure how Max was gonna find out about our boys' antics.


	4. The Great Escape

Boys Will Be Boys

by Inzane

Disclaimer: Last time I checked, I still didn't own Dark Angel. Dammit.

Summary: Just how much trouble can two transgenic teenage boys get into? A story about my favorite X-6's from The Friggin' Cure universe, Dalton and Oscar.

Warning: Language--maybe a little harsher than my usual standard--and some mild violence.

* * *

Chapter 4: The Great Escape

Max stepped into the club that had become known to all the transgenics as _Eos_. It served as a bar, rec hall, movie theater, and just general place to unwind. Alec and Mole had been the ones to come up with the idea for the place, insisting that they could all use a morale booster. Max had been shocked at first that Mole had been involved, as his idea of unwinding usually involved cleaning his guns. But the transhuman recognized the tension that had been building among the people he now considered his brethren (even the X-series), and had worked with the X-5 to come up with the idea. It had taken them a while to _requisition_… a.k.a. _steal_… the stuff they needed for the place, but now it was fully outfitted with all manner of things transgenics could use to distract them from the harsh reality of their lives.

Alec had come up with the unusual name for the place. Max remembered coming across the pair before the place had officially opened, after about five months of being holed up in TC. She hadn't even been with Alec back then, but looking back at that time, she could see now that she had been slowly falling for Alec for several months. Mole had been holding a ladder while Alec nailed a sign--hand-painted by Joshua--above the door with the three cryptic letters.

"_Eos? What's that supposed to mean? Isn't that a Greek goddess or something?"_

_Max tilted up her head, trying hard to keep her eyes on the sign and not on Alec's ass, which, positioned on the ladder as he was, was directly in her line of sight. She was mildly alarmed by how difficult it was not to look. This was Alec, after all. Pain-in-the-ass Alec. She in no way had any designs on his ass, or any other part of his anatomy. She ignored the way his biceps flexed as he pounded a nail into the wall. And she steadily ignored the fact that her pulse beat just a little bit faster._

_Alec paused his hammering and turned to face her. Her heart gave a little stutter when her eyes trailed from the sign to his face. His hair was in messy disarray, his eyes were blazing with excitement, and he had several nails held in his mouth. She told herself that her heart didn't skip a beat because he looked so boyishly cute. No, that couldn't be it. Had to be just a random thing. _

_Alec said something, but it came out as a mumble because he tried to talk with the nails still in his mouth, as he was busy holding the sign in place with one hand and the hammer with the other. He must have assumed Max understood him, for he turned back, made a minor adjustment to straighten the sign, and then began pounding again. _

_Max looked to Mole, raising her eyebrows in a silent request for a translation. _

_Mole rolled his eyes at Alec, then turned to Max. "Eos. As in E. O. S. __**E**__nd __**O**__f __**S**__hift. Your SIC here came up with the dumbass name. I had nothin' to do with it."_

_At Mole's disparaging remarks on the name of the new transgenic hangout, Alec stopped hammering and glared down at him. He opened his mouth to speak, but had apparently forgotten about the nails he was holding in his mouth. Alec tried to catch them, but they clattered to the ground. _

_Max couldn't help but laugh. With all the tension going on with the military camped on their doorstep and the ordinaries screaming for their blood, it felt good to laugh about something. _

"_I'll have you know, that name took a lot of thought," Alec said in an offended tone._

Dumbass or not, Alec's name for the place had rung true, for it was pretty much where everyone went after their shift ended. Max both hoped and dreaded that she would find the person she was looking for inside.

She spotted her target immediately. Hard to miss that flame-red hair. Max took a deep breath, tilted her head from side to side to loosen her muscles, then stalked across the room toward Zev, the whole time silently telling herself to resist the urge to plant her fist in the Border Patrol Commander's pretty face.

Zev was talking to some guy, an X-series. He was fairly new in TC, and Max was pretty sure his name was Jake. He must have been informed about the little grudge Max and Zev had going, because when he spotted Max approaching, he quickly made an excuse to get out of there. Others in the club took notice as well, and backed off to a safe distance, yet well within range to catch the possible show. She saw Zev glance at her, then hang her head and shake it.

Max slid into the seat next to Zev at the bar. She gave her head a sharp jerk to flip her ponytail over her shoulder. "Zev," she said in a clipped tone.

"Max," Zev replied, eyes narrowed and her tone equally clipped.

Max tried to think of a way to tell Zev about the problem. She had confirmed that Oscar was missing from TC, and was therefore currently in police custody with Dalton, so this whole this affected Zev as well, since she was Oscar's direct superior. The problem was, Max was really having a hard time getting her teeth to unclench for long enough to give her nemesis the 411.

Zev apparently did not have the same problem, and spoke first.

"Is it not enough that you've made my life completely miserable, that you gotta go and ruin my chances for having a nice, warm, male body in my bed tonight?"

Max wrinkled her forehead. This was not how she wanted to start out this conversation. She needed Zev's help. She hadn't wanted to antagonize her, but apparently Max's mere presence was enough to do that.

Zev sighed, and continued. "Look, Max, I've buried myself in all the shit jobs you've been given' me, and I haven't said a word. I've stayed out of your hair. I've avoided Alec like the fuckin' plague. It's been six months! _What more do you want from me?!_" Zev'd had enough of Max's shit, and she was done lying down and just taking it. It was time to end this shit between them, one way or another.

Max closed her eyes and counted to ten. She really needed to get over this overwhelming hatred she had for Zev.

"Look, Zev, I know I've been a little harsh on you…"

Zev interrupted with a bitter bark of laugh. "If that isn't a fuckin' understatement, I don't know what is."

Max ignored her, trying hard to maintain her cool. "… and I realize that some of it may have been uncalled for. I know you know how to do your job. I also know how persuasive Alec can be. It's hard to stand up against his style of _persuasion_."

Max stared off into space, remembering when she had confronted Zev about letting Alec out of TC. Remembering the fury she had felt when she smelled Alec's scent on Zev, knowing exactly what kind of persuasion he had used on her. Remembering placing the blame for Alec getting shot on Zev, because she'd had no one else to blame at the time.

Zev looked hard at Max, and could practically see the memories run behind her eyes. The redhead's eyes opened wider in shock at the sudden realization that hit her right between them. She wondered how she could not have seen it before. But the way Max said the word _persuasion _made her realize exactly what Max's problem was.

"It was never about me letting him out, was it? Not really. I mean, he was bound and determined to get out, and he would have found another way even if I hadn't let him go. It was because of that kiss."

Max gave an offended sniff, but had to look away. Zev had hit the nail on the head. But Max could not, _would not_, admit that the grudge she had been holding against the woman was completely personal. Over a kiss that had happened before she and Alec had even hooked up. A personal grudge over a man wouldn't be very leader-like of her, now would it?

"As if," Max huffed, but she had to stop herself from cringing at the tone of her voice, which clearly declared the falsehood of her words.

Zev let out a peal of triumphant laughter that had several male heads turning her way. "That's it! I can't believe it! Well, yeah, now that I think about it, I guess I can, especially after what you did to that skank Tara. I am such a dumbass!" Zev shook her head at her own stupidity. Her guilt over her part in what had happened to Alec had prevented her from seeing the truth.

Max frowned, and couldn't think of anything to say that would make her actions toward Zev the past couple of months seem less petty. Hearing the words from Zev's mouth, she realized just how petty she had been.

Zev nodded to the transhuman bartender, holding up two fingers. He came over and planted two beers on the bar in front of her. (Thanks to Alec's resourcefulness and his fondness for alcohol, the EOS bar had been well stocked for months.) Zev used one finger to push one of the beers over to Max.

Max stared at the bottle, recognizing it as a peace offering. She wanted to accept it, knew that she should, that it is what a true leader would do, but she couldn't get the image of Alec kissing Zev out of her head.

Zev watched Max stare at the bottle, and could sense her reluctance. Even though Max had made her life hellish the past couple of months, she could understand where she was coming from. Zev knew that if she had a guy like Alec, she would wanna beat down the competition--past, present, or future.

"You know," Zev said quietly, so only Max would hear, "Alec didn't kiss me that night. I kissed him. Think I shocked the hell out of him, too." She saw Max's eyes widen at this revelation, but could also see the suspicion on her face. After all, Max knew Alec better than anyone. "Oh, he returned the kiss, all right," Zev added, "eventually. His means of _persuasion_, like you said. But I could tell his heart wasn't in it. He'd already given it to you, you see."

Max hung her head and sighed. It felt like a weight had lifted from her shoulders. Then she slowly raised her head, picked up the beer, and took a sip. She decided it was time to swallow her pride.

"Thanks, Zev."

Zev let out a breath of relief. Now that they had smoked the proverbial peace pipe, she hoped that Max would quit riding her ass.

Fuck hope. She wasn't leaving something like that up to chance.

"Great. Now that we've come to an understanding, you mind laying off all the shit assignments you've been sending my way? 'Cause I've been so worn out, that if I managed to convince a guy to warm my bed, I'd be too damn tired to enjoy it."

Max frowned and put the bottle back down on the bar, reminded that she was here for other business.

"I'm afraid I've got one more shit assignment for you, Zev. I need your help, and I don't think you're gonna like what I gotta tell ya. It's about your boy Oscar."

* * *

Dalton and Oscar sat slouched in the chairs in front of Officer Jenkins' desk, both boys looking surly, and Dalton downright hostile. The cop had been trying to coerce parent phone numbers from them for the past hour, but hadn't been able to even get the boys' names, much less a means of parental contact. Her partner had bailed on her a while ago, claiming seniority and telling her that she could handle them on her own.

These kids were really starting to piss her off. She just wanted to foist them off on their parents and go the hell home.

"Look," Jenkins said, running a hand through formerly perfect hair that was becoming increasingly disheveled, "I'm really getting sick of the silent act you boys've got going here, and frankly, I'm sick of lookin' at your faces. I'm sure you'd like to get out of this place just as much as I do right now, so why don't we cut the crap? You boys bein' underage and in that club just earns you a slap on the wrist. Some community service, you'll be free to go. But I need to get your information for my report, and, as I've already told you multiple times, I can't release minors except to the custody of a parent or legal guardian, so I'm gonna need to _contact your parents_."

By the time she finished, Jenkins was speaking through clenched teeth. She was pretty sure she heard a snicker from behind her. She rolled her eyes to heaven, asking for a little divine intervention on this one. Every cop left in the bullpen was probably listening in, taking bets on whether or not she could get these kids to crack. Odds had probably shifted in the little punks' favor about a half an hour ago. She'd even run their prints in the hope that these boys might have tussled with the law before, but that hadn't panned out. She was about ready to take a blow to her ego, give up, and dump these kids on Child Services. Before she did that, though, Jenkins decided that she'd better consult with her captain. Maybe he could take one last run at them.

"Fine. If that's the way you're gonna play it, then I guess I'll have to bring out the big guns." Jenkins stood up, glaring down at the two large pains in her ass. "You two stay right there, and don't even _think_ about trying to make a run for it. There are at least ten cops between you and the exit."

Jenkins turned and walked toward her captain's office, a smug smile on her face. She'd let them stew for a while, then talk to her captain. Little assholes were probably quaking in their boots.

* * *

Dalton waited until the most annoying Officer Jenkins was out of earshot, then muttered out of the side of his mouth to Oscar while scanning the room for possible escape routes. "Damn, I thought she'd never leave. How is it we end up with the _one_ cop in Seattle who actually does her job? It is just un-fucking-fair."

Oscar let his head fall over the back of the chair so that he was staring up at the ceiling. He had long passed freak out mode and had fallen into a sort of numbed shock. "When has anything in our lives ever been fair, Dalton?" he asked in a tired, listless tone.

Dalton ran a hand over his face, doing a quick run through of his life up to this point. "Yeah, I guess you got a point there." Dalton turned to Oscar, then narrowed his eyes at what he saw.

"OW!" Oscar jerked up as he received a sharp jab to the ribs from Dalton. "What the hell was that for?"

Dalton leaned over, his face angry. He lowered his voice so only Oscar would be able to hear him. "You gotta get your head back in the game, dammit. You can't zone out on me now. If we're gonna get outta this, then I'm gonna need your help!" Dalton paused dramatically for a moment, then leaned a bit closer. "You don't want Max to come in here and have to save our asses, do you?"

Oscar shuddered at the thought. Max scared the hell out of him, and the thought of her having to come to the rescue… no, just _no_. The X-6 mentally shook himself. He'd gone against his better judgement and broken the rules. They'd gotten caught, and now they were just gonna have to deal with it. Dalton was right. He was a soldier, a transgenic. He and Dalton had the skills and the know-how to get out of this, and they had to do it fast before someone in TC got wind of what happened. They just needed to come up with a plan.

"Okay, so here's what I'm thinkin'," Dalton began, a smirk on his face, "you pretend you're gonna throw up, or even better yet, do it for real. Then you'll get to make for the bathroom, I'll play all concerned and have to go with to keep an eye on you, and we can find a way out."

Oscar drew back his head, incredulous. He wanted to tell Dalton it was a dumbass idea, but was having trouble finding the courage to do so. Instinctively, he recognized Dalton as an alpha and automatically wanted to give in to his plan.

Oscar ground his teeth. It was a dumb fucking plan.

"Why should I be the one to get sick?" _Just tell'm his plan sucks ass, you fuckin' coward!_

"'Cause, Oscar, with that baby face and those big brown eyes, they'll totally buy it. Me, I look like trouble." Dalton seemed kind of proud of the fact he looked like trouble. He'd changed a lot from the innocent-looking kid that had walked into Jam Pony with a very pregnant Gem, it seemed like ages ago.

Oscar bit his bottom lip for a moment, having a furious internal battle with himself. He was tired of being the one to always back down, tired of all of his little mental hang-ups that kept holding him back, making him an outsider even among his own people. For once, he was gonna take a stand.

"No way. That is a stupid plan. No way we'd get away with it. Cops aren't that dumb."

Dalton drew his head back and raised his eyebrows in shock. Oscar was standing up to him. That was practically unheard of. Oscar never stood up to anybody. Shock was replaced by mild anger. He hadn't put a whole lot of thought into his plan, but he didn't think it was that bad.

Both boys glared at each other, then the argument began in earnest.

* * *

Officer Jenkins stood in her captain's office, staring out its glass window at the two boys now standing in front of her desk, squaring off face to face. They appeared to be having a heated discussion, accompanied by a lot of finger pointing and a few shoves. She wondered if these kids were brothers, or just good friends. The way that they acted around each other reminded her of her younger brothers.

"You gotta be fuckin' kidding me, Jenkins. You mean you can't get two punkass kids to talk? You can't even get their fuckin' names?"

Jenkins felt the color rising in her cheeks, and tried to ignore it. She cleared her throat before continuing. "Sir, these boys are amazingly resistant to the subtle interrogation techniques I used, and they're stubborn as hell. Even the younger kid. He looked all panicky and I kept thinking he was gonna crack, but no dice."

The captain squinted, trying to size up the two kids that had one of his best officers asking for help.

"Christ, those boys can't even be sixteen yet. Probably don't even know how to drive." He turned on Jenkins, staring down at her from his impressive six-foot-four frame. "You got another ten minutes to get those kids to crack, and if not, turn 'em over to child services. I can't have you wasting your time on some dumb kids out to have stupid fun."

Jenkins clenched her teeth. She was never going to hear the end of it. If these kids beat her, she would be razzed about it for years. "Sir, I thought if you could..."

The captain interrupted her, leveling a finger at her face. "Uh uh. I am not a babysitter, Jenkins. If you can't handle it, then I suggest you turn 'em over to someone who can. McManis over in child services'll handle 'em. Dismissed." With that final word, the captain turned his back on her and returned to his desk.

"Yes, sir," Jenkins said. She straightened her shoulders, and headed back out to do battle.

* * *

While Officer Jenkins was trying unsuccessfully to enlist her captain' help, Dalton and Oscar had been arguing about Dalton's plan in earnest. Oscar had pointed out the problems with the plan, and Dalton, being the alpha male that he was, couldn't help but get defensive. The argument quickly degenerated into a minor shoving match, curses, and insults; they questioned each others' intelligence, manhood, abilities... the typical idiotic male posturing that had more to do with denigrating your opponent and really had nothing to do with the situation at hand.

Dalton came back to his senses enough to realize that they had gotten loud enough to be overheard, and they were wasting time. They had to dispense with the bitchfest and get back on target.

"So my plan's stupid, huh?" Dalton lowered his voice and said angrily, poking a finger into Oscar's chest. "Well, I don't see you coming up with any ideas. You're such hot shit. You think you could do better?"

Oscar flicked his eyes past Dalton, and saw that Officer Jenkins was headed back their way. He smiled as a sudden flash of inspiration hit him. "Yeah. I can."

Oscar looked back at Dalton, his eyes bright with excitement. This could totally work, as long as Dalton backed him up on it. "You still got those bruises from training the other day? You know, when I wiped the floor with your ass?" Belatedly, Oscar thought he should have left that last bit out.

Dalton's eyes narrowed, and he bared his teeth. Alec had showed them a new move in training the other day, and it was one of the rare occasions when Dalton had trouble getting it, but Oscar had immediately mastered it and had indeed wiped the floor with his ass. He and Oscar were usually pretty evenly matched, but not on that day. Alec, of course, had made Dalton keep trying until he had gotten it right, so Oscar had beaten him six times before he finally mastered the move. It had really pissed him off.

"Yeah. Why?" he replied stiffly.

Oscar grabbed Dalton by his biceps and gave him a little excited shake, taking another look over the other boy's shoulder at the swiftly approaching Jenkins.

"Just back me up. You'll know when," he muttered.

Dalton grabbed Oscar's wrists at hearing his own words from earlier that evening thrown back at him. "You sonofa..." He quickly cut off his words as Jenkins arrived, and both boys turned to face her, fake smiles on their faces.

Jenkins drew up short, suspicious of the sudden change in the pair. "All right, guys. What's the deal. You ready to cooperate?"

Dalton glanced at Oscar, crossing his arms and pursing his lips, waiting for whatever big show his fellow X-6 had planned. _And it better be fuckin' good_. He raised his eyebrows in shock and dropped his arms as he saw Oscar's eyes begin to well up with unshed--and what Dalton knew was completely fake--tears.

"Please," Oscar began, his lower lip trembling just slightly, nothing too over the top, "don't call our Dad."

Jenkins crossed over to her desk and sat on the edge of it, crossing her arms. "So you two are brothers, huh? Funny, you don't look a lot alike."

Oscar took a deep breath, and let it out. "We have different mothers. Both left us with our deadbeat asshole of a father. That's why we couldn't tell you anything. He'll lay into us something fierce if he finds out where we've been, much less that we're in police custody."

Jenkins stared at the teenager, watching his face for any signs of dishonesty, but she didn't catch anything. The taller boy stood behind his brother, looking apprehensive.

Oscar turned his head to look at Dalton, his face full of concern. "Show her the bruises."

Inwardly, Dalton was laughing his ass off. He'd gotten the gist of Oscar's plan, and he had to admit, it was pure genius. He figured he knew what part he was supposed to play in the scheme of things.

"What? No," Dalton replied, shaking his head and widening his eyes. He took a hesitant step backwards.

"_Show her_," Oscar insisted, grabbing Dalton lightly by the arm.

Dalton's face showed reluctance and shame as he grasped the hem of his shirt and lifted, exposing his stomach and lower chest. There was a rainbow of fading bruises plastered across his body. He managed to keep from smiling when he heard Officer Jenkins suck in a shocked breath at the sight of them. _And I'd like to thank the Academy..._ he thought.

Oscar turned back to Jenkins, his face completely earnest. "Our old man, he lost his job, and he's not dealing very well. He just tends to take it out on us, sometimes. My big brother, he tries to shield me from him, and you can see what that gets him. So, you see why we can't give you our Dad's number? He has to come down here to pick us up from a police station, it's gonna be a lot worse than those few bruises my brother has. I know he'll take the brunt of it, like he always does, and I can't allow that to happen. Not this time."

Jenkins leaned forward, earlier annoyance completely replaced with concern. "If your father is abusing you, you should report it. No one has the right to do that to you."

Oscar shook his head, looking sad. "We've heard that one before. Always seem to end up right back there with him." Oscar ducked his head for a moment, then gave Dalton a meaningful look, which almost had Dalton busting out laughing, though no one would ever had known it from the steely look on his face. Oscar then turned his head back to Jenkins.

"My brother here tried to stop me from going to that place, but I wouldn't listen, and he followed me there to make sure I didn't get into any trouble. I guess that didn't work too well, huh?"

Oscar moved to stand in front of Dalton and crossed his arms, and his face took on a look of stubborn defiance. "I'm sorry, but I can't give you that number. I gotta protect my brother."

Officer Jenkins sighed, then gave the boys a small smile. "I can understand where you're coming from, but I'm afraid I still can't release you. I'm going to have to take you up to Child Protective Services. I just can't allow you to go back into that abusive situation."

Dalton huffed, and ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah, we know the drill. Not like we haven't been through it before. But you go ahead and do what you gotta do. Just don't expect us to be happy about it."

As Jenkins got up and moved around her desk to sit down and place a call to the Child Protective Services Department, Dalton and Oscar sat back down and plastered twin looks of grim acceptance on their faces.

* * *

Zev dropped back through the pothole to land in a crouch next to Max.

"They're not here. Looks like they managed to get themselves transferred to Child Protective Services. I assume they're planning to make a break for it at some point."

Max was trying to keep her anger in check. She needed to keep her wits about her when outside of TC. After all, White was still out there somewhere. She let out an exasperated breath.

"Okay. That should make things a little easier. I say we head over in that direction. If they make it out, fine, we'll snag 'em when they hit the tunnels. But I tell you, if we have to go in there and rescue them, they are seriously gonna regret the day their testosterone-driven little asses hit puberty."

"I'm so feelin' you on that one," Zev replied.

Zev held out her fist to Max, and Max hesitated for just a second before slamming her own fist down on top of it, then holding hers out so Zev could do the same. It felt a little weird, not hating Zev with an all-consuming passion. She wasn't sure if they would ever be friends, but at least they now they understood each other a little better. The two women shared a look, then blurred down the tunnel, hunting wayward transgenic boys.

* * *

Officer Jenkins drove Dalton and Oscar over to the building that held Child Protective Services, as well as the temporary home for those kids who had yet to be assigned foster care. She escorted the two boys inside the building, then happily turned them over to CPS. She felt bad for the kids, but frankly, she was glad to be rid of them. They had given her nothing but trouble since she picked them up.

The X-6s sat in a sort of waiting room with two other boys. Everyone was waiting their turn to meet with the psychologist on call, who had yet to arrive. There was a forty-something man sitting at a desk near the door, apparently serving as a combination admin/guard.

Dalton nodded his head to the other two boys waiting with them. The guys were older, maybe seventeen or so, and they were both sporting several bruises and cuts. He mentally labeled one as Butch and the other as Bruiser. "Whatcha fellas in for?" Dalton asked casually.

"Fighting, dipshit," Butch replied, holding an icepack to his jaw.

"Hey, just makin' conversation," Dalton replied, frowning. He swung his head over to Oscar and asked quietly, "Now what?"

Oscar eyed the guard at the door. "I dunno. We need a distraction or something so we can slip out."

"Yeah," Dalton said, "but we gotta have something plausible so they don't question how two kids our age were able to sneak out under the eye of _big, tough_ security they have in this place." The words _big_ and _tough_ came out dripping with sarcasm, accompanied by an eye roll. The security might be tough to get around for the average teenager, but it would be a cakewalk for two transgenics. "I'll tell ya," Dalton added, "pretending to be ordinary is a fuckin' pain in the ass."

"Copy _that_," Oscar replied. He turned to Dalton and raised his eyebrows in question. "Fight?"

Dalton nodded. "It's what we do best." Dalton glanced over at the two older boys across the room. "You thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?"

Oscar jerked his head to flip his hair out of his eyes and sized up the competition. The success of his earlier plan to get them out of the police station had boosted his confidence, and he was feeling pretty good at this point.

"Absolutely," Oscar replied. "You wanna start?"

"You kiddin' me?" Dalton asked with a smirk. "I _love_ startin' shit. Let's get this show on the road."

At that, Dalton stood up in a huff, took a few angry steps, and then whipped back around to face Oscar.

"You know, little brother," he said in a tone loud enough to be overheard by the guy at the door, "I'm really getting' tired of stickin' up for your ass. I mean, look what it's fuckin' got me… a bunch of bruises from the old man, and now they're gonna throw us back in the system. I shoulda just let you go and left the old man pound on your ass for once."

Oscar stood and got up in Dalton's face. "Yeah, well, no one asked you to come after me."

Dalton gave Oscar a light shove, and saw that the guard attention was definitely on them now. He raised his voice even louder. "Get real. A pussy like you? Probably would've ended up face down in a gutter somewhere you didn't have me lookin' out for you. Hell, those guys over there," Dalton hiked a thumb over his shoulder, indicating Butch and Bruiser, "would probably make you their bitch if I wasn't here to stop 'em."

The _bitch _comment got the other boys' attention, and they started to make some noise of protest, but Oscar started back in on Dalton, cutting them off.

"Who you callin' a pussy?!" Oscar growled, and gave Dalton a harder shove, causing him to stumble back a few steps, bringing him in range of Butch and Bruiser.

"Oh, that's it!" Dalton yelled, then launched himself at Oscar. The X-6s began throwing punches, making sure to keep the fight toned down to average human abilities.

The guard at the door stood, looking irritated. "You boys stop that right now and settle down!"

Dalton and Oscar ignored him, and continued to fight, each letting the other land a few hits to make it look convincing. Oscar then tackled Dalton, crashing the both of them into the other two boys.

"Hey, what the fuck?" Bruiser exclaimed, then received a supposedly accidental but actually perfectly planned elbow to the face from Dalton. "You little cocksucker!"

With that, the other pair joined in the fray, and suddenly there was a free-for-all.

The guard's face contorted in anger, and he stomped toward the fight. "Goddammit! I said stop!" He reached in and tried to separate the combatants. Just at that moment, Oscar signaled Dalton with a slight widening of his eyes, then launched a fist directly toward his face. Dalton ducked at the last possible moment, and Oscar's fist landed right dead center of the guard's face. The fight came to a screaming halt as all four boys watched the guard's eyes roll up into his head before he crumpled in a heap to the floor.

"Jesus H. Christ! I can't believe you fuckin' did that!" Butch exclaimed. "You are dead meat, man! When he wakes up, he's gonna be royally pissed! Your ass is toast!"

"Fellas," Dalton said, clapping a friendly hand on Butch's shoulder, "we don't plan to hang around and wait for that to happen." Dalton and Oscar made a break for the door. Dalton turned around, walking backwards so he could address the boys left in the room. "Thanks for the assist, guys. 'Preciate it." He gave them a smirk, turned, and chased after Oscar.

* * *

After dispatching the guard, the X-6s easily made it out of the building. They stuck to back alleys until they could find a convenient sewer access point that would lead them back to TC.

As they found the entry point they wanted and slipped into the tunnels, Dalton turned to Oscar and looked at him as if he'd never seen him before. "I can't believe you, man," he said in a shocked tone.

Oscar, who'd been extremely proud of his actions that night, let his head fall forward, crestfallen, as he waited for Dalton to yell at him or blame him for things going sideways.

Dalton's next words were excited, accompanied by a boyish grin. "That bit at the cop station was the best bullshit ever!" Oscar's head whipped back up, startled by the praise when he was expecting the complete opposite.

"You're like a liar extraordinaire!" Dalton continued. "You had them eatin' outta your hand! It was fuckin' amazing! Who are you, man, and what have you done with Oscar, 'cause that was so not like you!"

Oscar smiled shyly and glanced over at Dalton. "Maybe you're a bad influence."

Dalton narrowed his eyes and gave his fellow X-6 an appraising look. "Or maybe, you're not really the meek little transgenic you pretend to be." A mischievous smirk crossed Dalton's face. "Race you back?"

At a silent signal between the genetically engineered teenagers, they tore off down the tunnel, laughing. A solid friendship was born.

The race came to a skidding halt as the rounded a corner to come suddenly face to face with Max and Zev. Both women looked extremely pissed.

"Oh, hell," Dalton muttered, letting his head fall forward in defeat. Oscar, at the sight of Max _and_ his direct superior, felt his knees go weak and he suddenly found himself landing hard on his ass, sending up a small spray of water. Dalton just shook his head. There'd be no help coming from Oscar's direction. Being caught breaking the rules by two of the most badass chicks in TC probably fried his synapses or something.

Max took a menacing step forward, eyes flashing with fury. Zev stood behind Max, arms crossed, looking completely ready to back Max up.

"You boys have no idea what hell is," Max said coldly, "but you're about to find out."

_Goddammit! _Dalton thought._ If I had only gotten that blowjob, it might've been worth whatever damage Max plans to do to me._

Dalton swallowed hard at the evil gleam in Max's eye. He'd seen that look turned on Alec before, and it had never ended well for _him_. Dalton cringed.

_Or maybe not._

* * *

A/N: You know, I originally claimed this was going to be a short fic, but I still have two more chapters to go, so maybe not so short. Seems to be par for the course with me. The Friggin' Cure was originally going to be a oneshot, and if you read it, well, you know how that turned out.

Oh, and I don't watch cop shows either, so I had to wing all of the police procedure stuff. (In case you're wondering, I am very anti-doctor/lawyer/cop shows.)


	5. Busted

Boys Will Be Boys

by Inzane

Disclaimer: Dark Angel. Still don't own it. Still haven't made any money from it.

Summary: Just how much trouble can two transgenic teenage boys get into? A story about my favorite X-6's from The Friggin' Cure universe, Dalton and Oscar.

Warning: Language is a given.

* * *

Chapter 5: Busted

_Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! __**DAMMIT**_

Alec's internal monologue had mostly consisted of swearwords for the past half hour.

He sat down on the chair at the desk in his office, then immediately popped back up to pace again. He had repeated the action a half a dozen times, unable to decide between sitting or pacing. His mind was similarly torn, alternating between worried and extremely pissed off. He'd been in that state ever since Wil had sent one of his kids to tell him the news.

Alec was worried about Dalton. The kid was too reckless by far, though Alec knew he had only himself to blame for his own part in helping to create that recklessness. The X-6 had always looked up to him, and Alec realized that maybe he hadn't been the best role model for the boy.

Dalton's behavior seemed to have gotten worse over the past couple of months. He seemed to want to constantly test his boundaries, push the limits. Alec remembered feeling similar things when he was that age. Of coarse, he'd been locked up at Manticore at the time, so he didn't have the outlets that Dalton had for all his raging hormones. And the X-5 knew from personal experience that superhuman teenagers with raging hormones were nothing but trouble.

Alec was also angry and a little bit hurt that the kid hadn't come to him. He would have taken Dalton out to get him a little taste of the opposite sex, would have made sure that he stayed safe, given him a few pointers. But no, he had to go out on his own and end up getting into trouble, dragging poor, timid Oscar with him.

He chose to ignore how many times he had gotten into trouble over similar schemes.

To make matters worse, he was worried about Max being out there, on the outside, without him. It wasn't like she was out there alone, but it just wasn't the same. He knew that when he had Max's back, he would always put her safety before his own. He would do whatever it took to make sure she stayed safe, no matter the cost. He would lay down his life, if that's what it took. He couldn't say the same about everyone else in TC.

As soon as Alec had found out what was going on, he'd called Max on the radio. He had argued with her a bit, wanting to go with her, but she'd insisted that it was too late, that she had already headed into the tunnels with Zev. This had shocked him a bit, because Max and Zev had this hate/hate relationship going on ever since he'd been shot, and he knew _he _was the reason for it. Max partly blamed Zev for the whole thing six months ago, even though it was in no way Zev's fault.

He had made the mistake once of teasing Max about it, and had compounded the error by doing it when they happened to be sparring, which they did on a regular basis. Big mistake. He'd stupidly forgotten Max Law Number Eleven, and Max had kindly reacquainted him with it. He'd been sore for a couple of days after that, and had sported several very visible bruises that had made him the brunt of jokes long after they had faded.

Max must have finally gotten over her grudge. It had only taken her six months.

_Hmmm... Probably way ahead of schedule by Max-standards._

Alec threw himself back down into his chair. _Fuck_. This waiting was driving him crazy. Although, he figured it was probably a good thing that he hadn't gone along, because now he had time to simmer down a bit. If he had gone along when he'd first found out, he was not exactly sure what he would have done to Dalton, and he really had no desire to bruise his knuckles. And he figured it was bad enough the kid would have to deal with Max. Actually, both Dalton and Oscar would probably prefer that Alec pound on them rather than deal with Max. Hell, sometimes _he _would rather have someone pound on him than deal with a pissed-off Max.

Though he had to admit, pissed-off Max was _hot_.

Thinking about how hot Max was reminded him of how right it felt when he held her in his arms, which reminded him of the sheer overwhelming depth of his love for her. It still scared him a bit, the intensity of what he felt for her.

He had nightmares, sometimes, _horrible _nightmares where she was taken away from him. Even though tensions had eased, and relations with the government were improving every day, their lives were still full of such danger.

Any time you stepped outside Terminal City's walls, you took your life into your hands. There was still too much hate out there, too many people that didn't understand, or didn't want to understand. Max was a tough girl, and she could take care of herself--he knew that. But it was all the _what ifs _that disturbed his sleep at night.

And right now, the woman he loved was out _there_, where he couldn't protect her. His worry flared back to life, worse than ever. Max would probably accuse him of being a possessive Neanderthal, but hell, he was an alpha male. It was instinct to protect the woman he loved. And that was one instinct that he never planned to fight.

"Come on, Maxie. Get back here already." He ran a hand through his hair, and pushed himself out of his chair to pace again.

* * *

Dalton's ears were ringing.

There were several different reasons for the condition. The first was that both Max and Zev had--with extremely colorful and expressive language--been giving the X-6s a dressing-down that would have made the most hardened Manticore drill sergeant proud. The second was that the blood that had rushed to his face in embarrassment from said dressing-down pulsed through his head with each beat of his heart, causing the sound to echo in his ears. The third was that Max had smacked him upside the head so many times, he thought it just might be possible that he was experiencing a mild form of brain damage.

He risked a quick glance at Oscar. The other boy's head hung forward, hair covering his eyes--his usual habit when he was upset about something. Any hint of the Oscar that had rolled drug dealers, stuffed bills down g-strings, and boldly lied to the cops was gone. Dalton seriously hoped he wasn't gone forever. He'd really liked that Oscar.

The other X-6 hadn't said a word since Max and Zev had caught them. Dalton had said a _few_ things in their defense, each of which had earned him another smack upside the head. The silent Oscar's head was left unabused.

_Huh, _Dalton thought._ Maybe Oscar is the smarter one after all. I really gotta learn when to keep my mouth shut._

Dalton glanced back up and sighed with relief when he saw they had reached the southeast tunnel access point. _Finally. Maybe this torture would soon come to an end. _As the stepped out of the tunnel and into the damp night air, the adolescent came to an abrupt halt.

_Oh, fuck me._

They had emerged from the tunnels into what looked like a transgenic block party. There was no doubt what had caused the impromptu get-together, because as soon as they cleared the entrance, all heads turned to them. The transgenic rumor mill was a fast and furious thing, and when word had gotten out of the boys' little escape, and that _Max _had gone after them, well, you couldn't have kept them away with riot guns and teargas. Max's wrath was legendary, and as long as it wasn't directed at them, they loved to see it.

Dalton backpedaled, but Max grabbed his arm to stop him. Confused by their sudden stop, Oscar finally took his eyes from the ground, and they widened as he took in their audience. Then he rolled his eyes upward, and Dalton could practically hear him chanting _why me_ in his head.

Dalton turned to Max. His bold, blue eyes were pleading. "Max, don't. _Please_."

He knew exactly what Max was going to do. She was going to make an example of them. No way in hell did he want everyone to see Max dragging him through the streets of TC, especially if she and Zev kept up the vicious tongue-lashing they'd been giving them the entire trip back through the tunnels. And this was Max, so that was pretty much a given. At the steely look in Max's eyes, he knew his plea fell on deaf ears. Max may be his friend, but she was first and foremost the leader of Terminal City. His shoulders sagged in defeat.

Max hated to do this to Dalton, but he had to be taught a lesson. The things she and Zev had said in the tunnels were not enough. What he had done had been extremely foolhardy and dangerous, and it was compounded by the fact that he managed to drag by-the-book Oscar into it, risking the both of them.

Beneath her fury, Max had been scared that something might've happened to Dalton. Not only for Alec's sake, because she knew Alec thought of Dalton as a little brother, but because at some point, she'd come to feel the same. Somewhere along the line, the X-6 had managed to become family.

If there was one thing that Max felt a fierce need to protect, it was her family.

It was different than her brothers and sisters that she had escaped Manticore with--they had all been close to the same age, had all been pretty much on the same level. She missed them terribly, and wished that someday some of them would make it to Terminal City, but she knew that they were strong and could take care of themselves. Having a younger brother... it was different. The weight of responsibility seemed heavier. The need to protect was greater. It was tougher.

But no matter what, she couldn't have anyone else, especially the younger kids, thinking they could go out carousing any time they wanted, so Dalton and Oscar would have to be offered up as an example of what happened if you broke the rules.

Max looked past Dalton to the crowd beyond, so she wouldn't have to stare into those pleading blue eyes. She started to drag him forward, and Zev did the same with Oscar.

"You should've thought of that before you started listening to the downstairs brain." Max said. "Let's go."

* * *

Exhaustion had finally gotten the better of Alec. He'd already been dead tired when he'd been woken earlier out of his sound but ridiculously short sleep. All the worry and the anger and the pacing had finally sapped the last of his energy, and he was currently sitting in his chair, elbow on desk and chin resting in his hand, fast asleep.

The sound of his office door being forcefully opened and crashing into the wall brought him rudely back to reality, and his chin slipped off his hand, causing him to crash face first into his messy, beat up desk.

'Uuuggghhh," he said slowly raising his hands to his now aching head. He looked up through his hands to see Max and Zev rather forcefully dragging the formerly missing X-6s by the collars of their shirts. They each gave the boys a shove, sending them stumbling into the room to stop right in front of Alec's desk.

"Max," Alec breathed. Alec still usually masked most of his emotions out of habit, but he was too damn tired to hide the open relief on his face. Max was safe. Dalton was safe. Everything was gonna be all right.

Alec glanced at the troublemakers. Oscar was fiddling with the hem of his shirt, eyes downcast, looking completely repentant. Dalton, on the other hand... his stance screamed attitude, defiance, and a simmering anger. He looked a little worse for the wear--Max and Zev must have laid into them good--but there was a spark in his eyes that Alec had to respect. Max had most assuredly humiliated them in front of almost the entire population of TC, and yet Dalton still managed to hang tough. Alec had to stifle his need to say _attaboy_. He had no desire to sleep on the couch for what little remained of the night.

"You know what trouble _your_ prize pupils got into tonight?" Max asked vehemently, flipping her ponytail over her shoulder and pointing a finger at the pair.

Alec stood warily. He didn't like the way Max had said _your_.

He already heard what was up, but figured he had a role to play out in the little drama about to occur, so he followed along. "Why don't you tell me about it," he said, walking around to the front of his desk to sit on the edge, crossing his arms.

"These two apparently OD'd on testosterone and decided they needed to work it off by going to a strip club. " Max paced behind them, animatedly waving her hands as she talked. "I swear, I have no idea how you guys survive puberty, with buckets of that shit coursing through your system, because it apparently turns you into complete fucking idiots!"

Alec wisely decided to keep his mouth shut. Now was not the time to defend his gender.

"So, being complete fucking idiots, risking not only themselves but our current state of relations with the ordinaries, then," Max continued, simultaneously slapping each boy on the back of the head, causing duplicate flinches, "_then_ they decide to get themselves hauled in by the cops! Fortunately, between the two of them, they had enough brainpower left to laser off their barcodes, or we could've been launching a rescue mission to save them from White instead of standing here, discussing their complete lack of common sense!"

Dalton turned his head to Max. "We never would've…" he began before Max gave him a hard shove in the shoulder, cutting him off.

"Did I say you could talk? Cause I don't remember saying that you could talk." Max turned to Zev, cocking her head to the side and raising an eyebrow. "Zev, do you remember me saying that they could talk?"

Zev was leaning casually against the one wall, arms and legs crossed. "Nope."

Max whipped her head back around to Dalton. "See? No talking!"

Max began pacing in front of them again. Alec followed her with his eyes, enjoying the show. Her face was flushed with anger, and her eyes were blazing. Luckily for him, he was so damn tired and worn out from his earlier activities with her, he would have no need to excuse himself to take a cold shower due to watching Max all her angry glory.

"You two are so ridiculously immature!" Max threw up her hands. "I outta just put you over my knee and be done with it!"

Dalton couldn't stop himself. He smirked.

Catching _that_ look on Dalton's face, Max gave a frustrated growl and spun to face Alec, the love of her life and former--though sometimes still--bane of her existence. "This is all your fault!"

Alec drew his head back, raising his eyebrows and putting a hand to his chest. "_My_ fault?"

Max pulled her famous _Max stance_, arms crossed and hip jutted out. Alec loved to see it, except when it was directed at him. "You're a bad influence. Telling them stories of your glory days. Going on about all your former conquests. I'm surprised this didn't happen sooner!"

Zev came to stand beside Max, her arms also crossed, and both females stared at him with accusing eyes.

Alec glanced from Max to Zev and then back again. How the hell had _he_ suddenly become the bad guy? "You can't seriously be blaming this whole thing on _me_? _Come on!_"

Max lifted her chin, a smug look on her face. "Since this is all _your_ fault, we'll leave the punishment up to you. And it better be something good."

Max glanced at Zev. Reaming out the X-6s had sort of been a bonding moment between them, and Max was prepared to let go of any residual anger she had for the redhead. "Come on, Zev, let's go get a beer."

Max and Zev turned and stalked out of the room, leaving Alec with the two teens.

Dalton had relaxed a bit when Max and Zev had left the room, thinking the hard part was over. As Alec turned his attention to them, however, Dalton stiffened, realizing that he had been _very_ mistaken. The look in Alec's eyes made him straighten and stand at attention. Oscar immediately followed suit.

The hard part was _definitely_ not over.

Alec was pissed. Not just the everyday, I'm-annoyed-at-you pissed, but seriously_ pissed_. It was different from Max being pissed, because, well, Max was pissed off a lot. They were used to it. But Alec… he usually let everything roll off him. Stuff rarely bothered him. He could always laugh it off or turn it into a joke. On the rare occasions that Alec did get truly pissed off, the only option you really had was to duck and cover and hope to hell that it wasn't you he was pissed at.

Max's anger burned hot, scorching everything in its path, but Alec's anger was, oh, so cold, and it was fuckin' scary.

Dalton stared straight ahead, not making eye contact, as he would've done back in the days of Manticore. He figured Oscar was probably doing the same, but didn't dare look. He didn't dare _move_. He didn't want to draw Alec's attention to him any more than necessary.

He heard an audible gulp next to him, coming from Oscar's direction. Dalton knew how he felt. So far, they had avoided serious damage, except for Dalton's possible brain damage from getting frequently smacked in the head by Max. Left alone with pissed-off Alec… there was no telling what could happen.

Alec was a wildcard. It was an asset when he was fighting on your side, but when he was against you? Dalton mentally shuddered. He'd rather have Alec just pound on him right now and get it over with then deal with the thought of what he _might_ do.

The X-6 felt the blood drain from his face when Alec came to stand directly in front of him. He didn't look up, just continued to stare straight ahead, as if he could stare straight through Alec to the wall behind him. He waited for the X-5 to start in on him, but there was only silence. Alec didn't move, didn't speak--which in itself was creepy.

An overwhelming urge to bolt overcame Dalton. His muscles felt like they were humming, urging him to motion, but he conquered it and held still. Running right now would be a very bad thing.

Dalton started counting silently in his head. When he got to one hundred, he couldn't take it any longer and glanced up to look Alec in the eye. Which, apparently, was exactly was the X-5 was waiting for him to do.

"Do you want to tell me what the hell you thought you were doing?" Alec asked calmly, hazel eyes staring him down.

Anyone that didn't know Alec might have thought it was a casual question, the way he phrased it, but Dalton could detect the threat in his tone, the ice in his stare. He knew that _that_ tone, _that_ stare, was completely focused on him. Alec knew the two teenagers well enough to know who instigated their little adventure.

Dalton had never once thought that Alec would be upset about what they had done. Well, if he was perfectly honest with himself, he never thought they'd get caught at all, but after it happened, he'd thought that Max would be the problem, not Alec. He tried to think of something to say, but words failed him. His eyes widened when Alec leaned forward, the older man's face coming within inches of his own.

"I asked you a fucking question," Alec said in that same coldly casual tone.

Beads of sweat popped out on Dalton's forehead.

"I uh..." Dalton stammered, "We were just... I thought..."

"Really," Alec interrupted. "You _thought_. Funny, I didn't think _thought _had anything to do with it." Alec walked around Dalton to come up behind him. "Let me tell you what you _thought_. You _thought _you were man enough to get a little action. You _thought _you'd drag your new best friend Oscar here along for the ride and risk the both of your asses. You _thought _you were smart enough not to get caught. You _thought _you'd get your good buddy Alec to smooth things over for you. Well guess what?" Alec asked, bending over slightly so he could whisper in Dalton's ear. "_You thought wrong_."

Dalton turned his head to look at Alec, a pained look on his face. "Alec, I'm sorr..." He was never able to finish saying he was sorry, because Alec grabbed him around the throat and pushed him back until he slammed hard into the wall. The X-6's hand came up involuntarily to grab at Alec's wrist, and his eyes widened in shock. Dalton could see Oscar standing behind Alec, looking like he wanted to run but was too afraid to move.

"Don't you tell me you're sorry!" Alec barked out, giving Dalton another slam against the wall. "You're notfuckin' _sorry_! You're just sorry you got _caught_!"

Alec looked into Dalton's eyes, saw the fear in them, and felt some of his anger drain away. He didn't want Dalton to be afraid of him. He just wanted him to understand fully the seriousness of what he'd done. He slowly let go of Dalton and backed a few steps away, running a hand through his hair as was his habit when he was upset.

"You should've come to me," Alec said in a quieter tone. Because he was so tired, he wasn't able to mask the hurt that came out in his tone.

Dalton massaged his sore throat with one hand, a bit astonished that Alec had been bothered that he hadn't gone to him with his plans. He stupidly hadn't realized that in cutting out Alec, he'd betrayed the level of trust and honesty that had developed between them over the past year.

"I didn't think that... well, you have Max and all, and I thought that you wouldn't, that... I thought… " Dalton trailed off. He didn't know how to explain it to Alec. He wasn't sure he could even explain it to himself. He felt very stupid at the moment.

Alec shook his head. "There you go, thinking again. Not doing too good in that department right now, are ya?"

Dalton's shoulders sagged, and his blue eyes were hooded. "I guess not," he said glumly.

"Do you have any idea what you guys put us through? What you risked? You could've thrown away everything we've worked so hard to achieve with the ordinaries. You could've thrown your _lives _away, _Max and Zev's _lives away. And for what? A little slap and tickle at a strip club?"

Alec sat down on the edge of his desk. The fatigue was starting to creep up on him again, fast. Being angry was very tiring, but he had no time for that now. He pushed the weariness aside and looked from Dalton to Oscar and back. These two kids _were _his prize pupils, as Max said. They had so much potential, and they'd almost thrown it all away. Transgenic or not, they were just kids, dammit. They had no business being out there on their own. Not at their age.

Alec sighed, unconsciously rubbing his hand over the spot where White had put a bullet through his lung. "The days when we were free to be reckless are over boys. I learned that the hard way, and I thought you had too, Dalton."

Dalton swallowed hard and had to school his face to a blank look, shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other. It really upset him that he had disappointed Alec, whom he thought of as a brother. The thought that Alec might look at him differently after this incident was a painful.

At this point, Oscar shocked everyone by clearing his throat and speaking.

"You know, sir," he said, falling back into his usual military address in his discomfort, "Dalton and I managed get away without a hitch, and without anyone finding out we were transgenic. We executed a perfect plan to get what we wanted, and when things went sideways, we successfully altered the plan to our benefit. And frankly, sir, if Max and Zev hadn't managed to run into us, we'd be over at EOS, laughing our asses off over what we managed to do."

Oscar took a deep, shaky breath, shocked at the words that had just come out of his mouth. He could hardly believe that the person speaking had been him. Dalton had walked back over to stand by him during his little speech, to lend his support. Oscar now glanced at Dalton, and caught a hint of a smile on the other boy's face. No matter the punishment that Alec cooked up, Oscar figured that at least one good thing had come out of the whole fiasco.

He had finally managed to make a real friend.

Alec was silent for a moment, looking thoughtful. He was indeed shocked that Oscar had spoken up. He figured the kid would have never done anything like that before. Maybe Dalton's exuberant personality had a positive influence on Oscar's pragmatic one. He hoped that Oscar might have the same affect on Dalton, hopefully toning down some of the wild streak that he had noticed in the boy of late.

"Well," Alec began, standing, "you boys won't have much to laugh about after I'm through with you. I know _exactly _what punishment a transgression of this nature requires. You'll find out tomorrow." Alec let out a small, evil laugh, which had both of the X-6s looking concerned.

Alec walked between the two teens, paused, then turned around, throwing an arm over each of the boy's shoulders.

"Okay," he said in a cheerful tone that completely contradicted his earlier one, excitement in his eyes. "Now that _that's_ over with... I need details, fellas. And please, be very descriptive."

* * *

A/N: Only one chapter to go! Next up, you get to find out how the boys pay the price for their little adventure. 


	6. Time to Pay the Piper

Boys Will Be Boys

by Inzane

Disclaimer: I do not own Dark Angel. I have not made any money from this story. But you should already know this by now.

Summary: Just how much trouble can two transgenic teenage boys get into? A story about my favorite X-6's from The Friggin' Cure universe, Dalton and Oscar.

Warning: Language and violence.

* * *

Chapter 6: Time to Pay the Piper

"Little Fella."

Max smiled at the sound of Joshua's deep voice and raised her head to see the big transhuman standing in the doorway of her office. Completely filling it would probably be a more accurate description. She rested her weary head on her hand, glad for the distraction. She had been trudging through the latest batch of governmental bullshit, aka the government's preliminary proposal for transgenic rights. Damn thing was practically as thick as a phone book. It was enough to give even a seasoned lawyer with a staff of paralegals a headache.

"Hey, Big Fella. You're just in time. My eyes are 'bout to fall out here."

Joshua shifted from foot to foot, looking a little sheepish. He knew that Max wasn't perfect, but he hated to be the one to remind her of it. "Little Fella forgot."

Max straightened, lifting her chin from her hand as her brows furrowed. "Huh?"

"Dalton and Oscar's punishment. Alec said Max would be tied up with government shit and forget time. Alec right."

At the mention of the time, Max glanced down at her watch and bolted upright, sending her chair skittering back to bump into the wall behind her desk. "Dammit! Why didn't somebody call me?"

Alec had cooked up some form of public punishment, but he'd been very vague on what he had planned for the two juvenile delinquents. When she'd tried to pry more details from him, he'd just given her a smug smile and said _Trust me. It'll be good_. She'd been so busy locked in her office dealing with the _government shit_, as Joshua put it, that she hadn't been privy to the transgenic rumor mill to hear more about it. All she knew was that it was supposed to be in the quad and it was supposed to start--Max glanced down at her watch again--about fifteen minutes ago.

Joshua just stared down at Max. Though he would never even dream of uttering the words aloud, the look on his face clearly said _Why the hell do you think I'm here? _

"Radio turned off. Do not disturb."

Max ducked her head, feeling a bit sheepish herself. She always shut off her radio when dealing with governmental paper pushing, and there were standing orders that she not be disturbed when engaged in such activities. Not many people would risk going against those orders.

"Right. Sorry, Josh. Damn paperwork's fried my brain."

Joshua moved around Max's desk to grab her lightly by the arm and begin to guide her out of her office. "Come on, Little Fella. Enough brain fry for one day. Gonna miss the fun."

Max looked up at Joshua, raising an eyebrow. "Fun, huh? What does he have planned, exactly? He was so damned secretive about it last night."

Joshua chuffed, shaking his head. "Uh uh. Joshua promised not to tell. Alec said that way you can't stay and deal with government shit. Curiosity ... cats."

Max stopped in her tracks, causing Joshua to halt as well. She put her hands on her hips. "He said that, did he?"

Joshua smiled. "Alec know Max pretty well."

Max couldn't help but smile as well. "Yeah, I guess he does." Max linked and arm through Joshua's. "Come on. You can escort me to the festivities, kind sir." Joshua had been reading tales of King Arthur lately, and she knew he would get a kick out of the reference.

Joshua sketched Max a little bow. "My lady," he said, gesturing gallantly with a wave of his arm.

Max dipped in what she hoped was an acceptable imitation of a curtsy. The pair then descended the stairs to the main level and were almost out of Command when Lee, an X-4 who had drawn the short straw and had to hold down the fort while the rest of the Command staff were at Alec's event, called out to her.

"Max. Max!" he yelled out, leaning back in his chair in front of the communications center.

Max and Joshua paused and turned back toward Lee. "What is it?" Max asked.

"Communication for you, Max," Lee replied.

Max impatiently shifted her weight from foot to foot. "Take a message, will ya? We're late for the thing."

Lee's face looked pained. Not only was he gonna miss the fun, but now he had to be the one to tell Max that she was gonna miss it too. He'd always had shitty luck. "It's Colonel Flanagan," he said hesitantly.

"Shit." Colonel Jake Flanagan was the CO of the military stationed outside of TC. No way could she put off talking to him. She turned back to Joshua and patted him on the arm. "I gotta take this, Big Fella. You'd better tell Alec to start whatever he has planned without me, 'kay?"

"'Kay." Joshua let his hands rest on Max's shoulders in a supportive gesture. "Good luck with Colonel. Government shit is wack."

Max laughed. "I hear ya, big guy. I'll be over as soon as I figure out what the dealio is with Flanagan." She watched Joshua leave, then squared her shoulders, put on her best authoritative look, and told herself she was gonna deal with the Colonel in fifteen minutes flat.

* * *

Fifteen minutes turned out to be more like forty-five. By the end of the call, Max had to force her jaw to relax so that she would not be talking through clenched teeth. Patience was not something that was often found in X-5's, and definitely not in Max, but during the past year, she'd gotten a lot better at hiding her lack thereof. She'd managed to get through the call without inciting any military action, which was a definite plus. Flanagan was appeased. They would all live another day. Hooray for the good guys.

After she'd hung up with Flanagan, she'd bolted of out Command, leaving poor Lee of-the-short-straw to man the fort. She hurried over to the quad, afraid that she had missed the whole thing. But the sounds coming from that direction told her that whatever Alec had cooked up for a punishment, it was still going on, and whatever it was, it was indeed _good_.

As Max closed in on the quad, she found her view blocked by practically the entire population of TC. The only people missing were those manning essential positions, like Lee in Command. Whatever punishment had come out of Alec's devious mind must have been damn entertaining, because the crowd in front of her cheered and roared, hurling insults and encouragement.

Max pushed her way through the crowd. Many protested at first until they realized who was doing the pushing--after that, they just got out of her way. As she broke through to the front, she came to an abrupt halt.

The crowd had formed a large ring around the quad. Someone had dragged the mats from the training hall outside, and then marked off two identical circles with tape. Dalton was in one circle, and Oscar was in the other; both were a flurry of motion as they each fought another X-6. Both Dalton and Oscar were barefoot and shirtless, bruised and battered, and sweating profusely. As Max took her eyes from them to look around for Alec, a large cheer went up from the crowd as Oscar finished off his opponent, knocking him out of his circle.

Max finally found Alec sitting on the hood of a rusted out car, watching Dalton and Oscar with a critical and judgmental eye--the master sizing up the students. The car had apparently been marked off as reserved seating for the Command staff. Mole and Joshua were sitting on the roof, legs hanging down, their weight causing it to cave a little. Luke and Wil sat on the trunk, and Dix leaned against the side of the car. She didn't see Vash, but that didn't surprise her, since TC's doctor was extremely antisocial. Max saw that Zev was sitting on the hood next to Alec. Zev met her gaze, looking just a bit hesitant, and Max realized that the other woman was testing the waters, seeing how Max would react.

Previously, Zev's proximity to Alec would have caused Max to boil over with anger, but she noticed that Zev had left a large gap between her and Alec. _Good_. She may have made her peace with Zev, but she certainly didn't want the redhead, or any other woman for that matter, cozying up to her man. Max made her way over to them, pushing past the jostling crowd.

As she approached the car, Mole looked down at her from his perch, chewing on his ever-present cigar. "So," he called down to her, blowing out a puff of smoke, "Miss High and Mighty decides to grace us with her presence." His words were mocking, but his tone was light. He sniped at Max and the others not because he really meant it, but because he felt like it was kinda his job. He was Mole, and it was just what he was supposed to do.

Max pursed her lips and flipped Mole the bird, causing him to laugh. She said hey to the rest of the staff, then turned around and hopped up on the hood, plopping her butt down right next to Alec's, her leg touching his from hip to knee.

"So," Max said in a wry tone, bumping him with her shoulder, "this is your idea of punishment?"

Alec never took his eyes from Dalton as the kid still battled his opponent. "Yep," he replied simply. Another cheer sounded as Dalton executed a flying kick that sent his opponent tumbling out of his ring. Alec then turned to Max to give her his full attention. "Just a little tournament for the X-6's to see who's the best fighter."

Max frowned. "What kinda punishment is that?"

Alec made an effort not to roll his eyes, but he could tell he didn't quite succeed from the darkening look on Max's face. How could she not get it? "We're running two separate heats. Gotta knock your opponent out of the ring, or just plain knock 'em out. You fight until you're defeated." At this point, Alec stood. "All right!" he yelled. "Next up!"

Two more X-6's stepped forward. At a signal from Alec, the next round began. As Max watched Dalton and Oscar fight--saw the sweat and bruises and cuts--her eyes widened and she smiled as she realized what Alec was doing.

Alec sat back down next to Max, smiling as he saw realization in her eyes. He leaned over and said in a conspiratorial tone, "Dalton and Oscar are the best fighters of the X-6's. I know it'll come down to the two of them, and that they'll have to fight almost every X-6 in TC before this thing is over." Alec paused dramatically, then added, with a wink, "Could've kicked their asses myself, but where's the fun in that?"

Max laughed, feeling the tension that had taken up residence in her shoulders from dealing with _government shit_ all day draining away. "How many have they faced?"

"Seven each so far. A lot of the Sixes were interested, so they've got about eight more to go."

"Ouch," Max said, cringing.

Alec threw an arm around Max and gave her a squeeze. "That's the whole idea, Maxie."

* * *

A little over an hour later, the tournament was finally winding down. Both Dalton and Oscar, as Alec had predicted, were still standing, though both seemed a bit unsteady on their feet. They were breathing hard, and sweat literally dripped from their bodies. Dalton's usually spiky hair was plastered to his head, and sweat dripped from the ends of Oscar's long bangs. They were completely wasted, and yet they fought on. Being teenagers, and male, they both had too much pride to throw a fight just so they could end their torment.

As Dalton finished off his fifteenth opponent, followed shortly by Oscar doing the same, Alec rubbed his hands together and whispered to Max, "Now, here's where it gets good." He hopped off the car and went to stand in between the two X-6's. "All right, fellas, five minute break before the final round!"

Oscar just plopped down in the center of his circle, while Dalton bent over, hands resting on his knees, still breathing hard. Both boys took a swig of water from bottles brought to them by an X-8 Alec had made the water boy for tournament.

Dalton sensed Alec approaching him, and, still bent over because he wasn't sure he was capable of standing upright, tilted his head to send the X-5 an accusing glare. "You knew it was gonna come to this, didn't you?"

"Uh huh." Alec's smile showed every one of his perfect teeth. "Buck up, pal, you've only got one more fight to go." He reached over and slapped an encouraging hand down on Dalton's shoulder.

"_Aarrgghh!_" Dalton cried out in pain, since Alec had managed to slap him on the very shoulder he had dislocated in an earlier match. He had gotten a little distracted when he had caught glimpses of Kazi fighting Oscar. He found himself paying more attention to her than to his own opponent, and he had paid the price for it. Alec damn well knew that was the shoulder he had dislocated, because the X-5 had been the one to pop it back in.

"I hate you," Dalton growled through gritted teeth.

"Good. Then my work here is done." Alec bent over so that his head was level with Dalton's. His voice lowered an octave as he said in a deadly serious tone, "And if you ever pull some stupid shit like that again without checking with me, I will personally see to it that you remain a virgin for the rest of you life, clear?"

Dalton just closed his eyes and wearily nodded his head. He momentarily considered that he might have to rethink this whole brother thing. This was one side of brotherhood that he could definitely do without.

Alec smirked at poor, beat up Dalton and leaned a little bit further to mutter so only Dalton would hear. "I've got a bottle of scotch riding on you winning this thing, so don't blow it, little brother." With that, Alec reached over to ruffle Dalton's hair, causing it to once again spike wildly, then moved off to announce the last fight.

Dalton's mouth quirked into a small, wry smile. It was kind of strange. Even though he was aching from head to toe and weary to the bone--all thanks to his _brother's_ idea of punishment--he felt a little frisson of pride that Alec thought he was good enough to beat any X-6 in Terminal City, including Oscar.

Alec believed in him enough that he would wager an entire bottle of Scotch, which was a damn serious wager in Alec's book. This was the same Alec that Dalton currently hated with every fiber of his bruised and battered being—even if his hatred was only temporary. It was weird that you could kinda hate someone and, at the same time, desperately want that person's approval.

Maybe that was what brotherhood was all about.

* * *

The sun hung low on the horizon, painting the sky in deep golden hues. Now, instead of two smaller rings, there was one large ring marked off on the mat. Dalton and Oscar stood inside the circle, facing each other, their bodies casting long shadows from the setting sun. Sweat beaded on their bare chests, glinting as it caught the dying light. Both X-6's held themselves at ready, waiting for the sign from Alec that would start the final fight.

Oscar stared at Dalton, standing utterly still as he waited for the signal to fight. Every muscle in his body felt like it was on fire. He hurt more than he had ever hurt in his life, and considering where he had spent his formative years, that was saying something.

And it was all Dalton's fault.

The pain his body was experiencing was overriding coherent thought. It made him forget all about the bond of friendship that he and Dalton had formed on that crazy night. He forgot all about the things he had done, things he thought he would have never had the guts to do before.

The only thing he remembered was that the whole thing had been Dalton's idea. And thanks to Dalton's bright fucking idea, Oscar figured he was gonna be black and blue for a month, and catch who knows what kind of shit from Zev for compromising the borders. So he forgot that he was about to fight his newest--_and only_--friend.

All he could think about was that he was in pain, and Dalton was the fucking cause.

Alec, standing at the edge of the circle, raised a hand high in the air. Both X-6's watched him through peripheral vision, never taking their eyes off their opponent. Alec dropped his hand and yelled, "Fight!"

A cheer burst from the crowd. They expected a flurry of motion, expected to see the two adolescents launch themselves at each other, fists and feet flying.

The crowd slowly fell into a confused silence. Dalton and Oscar did not move.

Alec backed away, moving backward until he could once again sit beside Max. He glanced at her, and she raised her eyebrows in question. Alec just held up one finger, then whispered, "_Wait_."

Dalton watched as Oscar stared daggers into him. The guy was seriously pissed. Dalton narrowed his eyes slightly. Looked like their new friendship was gonna go on a little hiatus. At the moment, Dalton didn't really give a fuck, because he was feeling anything but friendly.

So Oscar was gonna blame him for this whole thing, was he? Sure, it had been his idea, but Oscar hadn't really needed that much convincing. He'd gone along with it, and whether he wanted to admit it or not, he'd had a good time. Dalton figured he was hurting just as much as Oscar was now, if not more, since Oscar hadn't dislocated a shoulder. What fuckin' right did the little shithead have to go all self-righteous on him?

_No right at all._

"_Oscaaaarrrrr_," Dalton drawled out, his voice low and menacing, "you want a fuckin' piece of me?"

Oscar shifted, moving his weight to the balls of his feet. "Maybe I do."

Dalton's move mirrored Oscar's, shifting his weight so he would be ready to fight at the slightest provocation. His fatigue was forgotten. He pushed it aside, as he'd been trained to do since before he could walk. He tilted his head, sneering. "Think you got the balls?"

Oscar smiled, but there was nothing friendly in it. "You better believe it," he growled, sounding like a completely different Oscar. _This_ was the Oscar that had rolled drug dealers, stuffed bills down strippers' g-strings, and escaped from the cops. Even through his anger, a small part of Dalton was glad to see it. He'd been afraid that Oscar might have decided to duck back into his shell.

Dalton smirked, and in that moment, he looked so much like Alec--not so much in his physical appearance, but in his attitude and the way he held himself--that Max out a little gasp.

Dalton widened his stance and raised his arms to the ready. "Well, come and get it then, bitch."

With that, the crowd exploded into a roar as Dalton and Oscar flew at each other. There was an initial rush of punches and kicks that normal human eyes would've had a hard time following.

They broke apart and circled each other. Dalton looked over his opponent, trying to gage how much energy Oscar had left as compared to his own. He wasn't sure if he liked the results of his perusal, so he formulated a backup plan. He'd play with Oscar's head a little.

"You may blame me for all this, but it's not my fault you're such a fuckin' sheep that you'd do anything I told you," Dalton said in a mocking tone, hoping to goad the normally levelheaded Oscar into an ill-advised move.

Oscar's face reddened at the insult that hit a little too close to home. The X-6's launched into another round of blows, which went on for minutes, until the crowd let out a cry of shock when the flurry of motion suddenly ceased as Oscar threw Dalton across the ring.

The blonde X-6 managed to land inside the circle, digging his hands into the mat to come to a skidding halt just inside the edge. His heart was pounding, not only from the exertion, but from how close he came to being knocked out of the ring and eliminated. Dalton vividly remembered the pounding he'd taken from Oscar during their last training session, and the bruises that had not yet faded, now joined by a mass of new ones. He risked a quick glance over at the crowd and saw Kazi sitting on an overturned oil drum, a light bruise on her cheekbone from her bout with Oscar. She was watching him, and he thought he detected a look of interest in her eyes.

No way was he gonna let Oscar beat him this time. _No way_.

Dalton crouched at the edge of the ring, eyes tracking Oscar as the other boy carefully advanced on him. "Is that all you got, Oscar, you spineless, pansy-ass _piece of shit?!_" he yelled.

Oscar was too tired and too pissed off, and he finally let his emotions get the better of him. He let out an angry cry and took a few running steps before launching a spinning kick at Dalton's head, too close to the edge of the ring. Dalton ducked beneath the kick, then leapt up into the air, somersaulting over Oscar's head to land behind the other boy. While Oscar was still off balance, Dalton let fly a kick of his own, causing Oscar to stumble forward, desperately trying to regain his footing as he tiptoed around edge of the ring as if on a tightrope.

Once he regained his balance, Oscar spun around to face Dalton. Both boys stood in a partial crouch, chests heaving yet ready to move at a moment's notice.

Oscar was angry with himself. He'd allowed Dalton to push him into letting his emotions control the fight instead of his head.

_Two could play at that game._

Oscar started to move to the right, and Dalton mirrored his move on the other side of the ring. Oscar smiled crookedly, the look strange and unnatural on his baby face. "This shit is all your fuckin' fault, Dalton. You and your bright ideas."

Oscar paused, watching the wary look in Dalton's eyes. "It would've been different if we'd gotten somethin' outta the whole deal. But I just got to cop a feel, and you couldn't even manage to get a blowjob."

Dalton's eyes darkened, and Oscar could see his muscles tense. "Shut up, Oscar," he snarled, fists clenching.

Oscar felt a small twinge of guilt, concerned that he may be alienating his one and only friend, but he ignored it. He was tired of always being the one to give in, to always back down. Tired of being timid, shy little Oscar. He could beat Dalton. He had in the past. Most of TC's population probably wasn't even aware that he could do it. All they saw was his shy, self-effacing exterior, and assumed that he wasn't good enough. Well, he was fucking good enough, and he was gonna prove it.

"Didn't even learn anything that you could use to impress a girl, if you ever manage to get the chance," Oscar said, continuing to egg Dalton on.

"_Shut the fuck up, Oscar_." Dalton's voice had decreased an octave, the menace in his voice causing several transgenics along the edge of the ring to edge back a bit, their minds instinctively translating his tone as _DANGER_.

Oscar ignored the warning. He tilted his head at Dalton, a questioning look on his face, and said the one thing that he thought might break Dalton's cool.

"Tell me again why I gotta get beat to hell just 'cause you got an itch to get in the new girl's pants?"

Oscar was right. A fraction of a second later, he wished he wasn't.

One second, Dalton was one the other side of the ring from him, and the next, he was upon him, launching blow after blow, which Oscar hastily blocked. There was no more talking, no more trading insults. Dalton's blows had him backing up, edging toward the ring's perimeter. Dalton feinted with his right, then let his left fly with a punishing roundhouse that Oscar was not able to block. Blood spurted from the brown-haired X-6's mouth as Dalton's fist connected with his jaw, smashing his cheek into his teeth.

Oscar went with the punch, dropping and rolling to get away from Dalton. _Stupid, h_e berated himself. He had completely forgotten. He'd been so fuckin' tired and angry, he'd completely forgotten how Dalton fought when he was pissed. He didn't lose focus; he didn't get distracted. Dalton was a whirlwind of deadly force when he was angry, and Oscar had stupidly provoked him into that state.

He had no more time for thought, as he hastily scrambled to his feet in order to block the kick Dalton sent flying his way. They exchanged a number of blows, Oscar now purely on the defensive. He didn't have enough time to launch a punch at Dalton--he was too busy trying to block. As he felt Dalton latch on to his arm, he mentally cried out _oh shit_ before he found himself flying through the air as Dalton flipped him over his shoulder, breath whooshing out of his lungs as he landed hard on his back, partially outside the circle.

Both combatants ignored the fact that the fight should have been over.

Oscar tried to catch his breath, but had no time as he saw Dalton was airborne, his body arching down toward Oscar's, fist ready to smash into his head. Oscar rolled to the left just in time, and Dalton's fist impacted with the mat with a loud thud. Oscar kicked out with his leg, trying to buy time to regroup, and he managed to knock Dalton over, sending him rolling away from him.

On the sidelines, Max grabbed Alec's arm. "Shouldn't we stop this? Dalton won. Oscar broke the circle."

Alec shook his head and placed his hand over hers. "No. We let them finish this. They need to get it out of their systems."

Oscar finally managed to suck in some air, and straightened in preparation for Dalton's next attack. The other teen once again launched himself at Oscar, and again they were engaged in a blur of blows and blocks.

On the sidelines, Max watched the boys with wide eyes and grudging respect. She was impressed. Both X-6's had amazing skill. She noticed that Dalton had even picked up on Alec's fighting style, which was not unexpected, since the kid had always tried to ape Alec in everything he did.

"I had no idea they were this good," Max said quietly to Alec, never taking her eyes off the fight.

Alec harrumphed, his tone mock offended. "Of coarse they are. I've been trainin' 'em, haven't I?"

Max glanced away from the fight to look at Alec's profile. His eyes were on the fight, and he had that boyish, excited look that she found so endearing. Along with the excitement, she saw pride as he watched his students exhibit their skills. Alec was so good with the younger X series, even though he pretended that kids bugged the hell out of him, to maintain his rep and all. Max found herself wondering what he would be like as a father.

At that thought, Max whipped her head back to the fight, her heart pounding. Where the hell had _that _thought come from? No way should she be sizing up Alec's possible parenting abilities. Uh uh. _Just_. _No. _The idea was too fuckin' scary. She loved him, could no longer imagine her life without him, but no way in hell was she ready to take their relationship that far, and she didn't think he was ready for that either.

Max unconsciously placed a hand over her lower abdomen. Maybe she was going into heat. That could explain it. She didn't feel the pressing need overriding her senses, but it could be early yet. Her cycle had been totally screwed ever since Manticore had tried to "fix" it when they'd captured her. The fix had lasted for a while, then her body had apparently rejected their changes, slowly working to heal what it must have considered an assault on her person.

The result was that she had heat cycles again, but they were completely unpredictable. She'd had two since they'd come to TC, and those had been before she and Alec had gotten together. Back then, she'd gone into the isolation chamber they had built for such a purpose, hiding herself from the male population--more like hiding the male population from _her_. At the time, she'd been bothered by how much Alec had featured in her heat-induced fantasies, and had chalked it up to proximity, since they were constantly thrown together, as CO and SIC. She hadn't realized that her fevered body had been trying to tell her who she really wanted.

A little shiver went through Max at the thought of entering another heat cycle. This time, she wouldn't have to go into isolation. This time, she'd have a strong, energetic man to see her through it. Every need, every desire... she knew that Alec would deny her nothing. Max felt herself flush with the beginnings of arousal at the thought of it, though she could tell by the slow buildup that it was not heat induced. She gritted her teeth and tried to get a hold of herself, surrounded as she was by dozens of people that would be able to smell her excited state.

Suddenly very aware of Max at his side, Alec finally took his eyes from the fight, glancing questioningly at her, eyebrows raised. Max glanced back, her body tense from trying to maintain.

"It's nothing," Max said quietly, then forced herself to take her eyes off him and watch the fight. _God, if I want him this badly now, what is it gonna be like when I go into heat? _Sensing Alec's eyes still on her, she muttered, "I'm fine. Really."

Alec continued to eye her warily for a moment. He'd learned through experience that there were times you could push Max, and times you couldn't. Her body language told him that this was definitely one of the latter. He put his questions on the back burner, planning to figure it out later. He gave her another long look, then slowly turned his eyes back to the fight.

* * *

Even transgenic strength had its limits. Dalton and Oscar were beginning to slow, no longer capable of the blur of motion that had begun the fight. Dalton's anger had tapered off, and it had sapped most of his strength. He fought on, his body going through the motions, refusing to lose, though now he realized that losing was a distinct possibility. He was running on empty. He only hoped that he had enough energy to finish this.

Dalton faltered for just a second, but it was all that Oscar needed. He broke through Dalton's defenses and landed a brutal uppercut to his chin. Dalton flew backwards, spinning with the force of the blow. He was unable to stop the harsh cry that ripped from his throat as he landed directly on his injured shoulder, feeling it slip out of the socket again.

Oscar froze at the cry of pain from Dalton. It caused the last of his anger drain away, bringing him back to himself. He suddenly felt like his body weighed a thousand pounds as fatigue fell over him like a blanket. He didn't press his advantage, but instead waited for Dalton to recover. He cringed when Dalton let out a short scream as the X-6 slammed his dislocated shoulder down onto the mat to force it back into the socket. Oscar felt a surge of guilt, wondering how they had let things get so out of control.

Dalton rested his forehead on the ground as he tried to catch his breath and ignore the throbbing agony in his shoulder. Oscar could have finished the fight at any time, but he didn't. He waited. After a moment, Dalton struggled to his feet, his left arm tucked close to his side--shoulder now visibly bruising and too swollen to allow easy movement--his right arm holding on to the left to brace it. He met Oscar's eyes, and a look passed between them. Dalton gave Oscar a little nod of acknowledgment, which Oscar returned. Everything that had been said before was forgotten. It was no longer about anger or blame. It was no longer personal. Now it was just a matter of skill against skill, and a desire to be the best.

"Let's finish this," Dalton said, panting, his voice quavering slightly from pain.

Oscar glanced at Alec a moment, hoping that the SIC would call the fight a draw, but Alec didn't move. Oscar turned back to Dalton and nodded, realizing that this was something both of them would have to see through to the end. He took a deep breath, shifted his feet to open his stance, and stood at ready. Dalton mirrored his move, save for his virtually useless left arm.

Oscar looked across the ring at his friend, then prepared to end the fight. He wouldn't hold back, because he knew that Dalton wouldn't want him to. He wouldn't dishonor Dalton's skill by throwing the fight. But the way he felt now, we wasn't sure if he could end it and come out the winner. It felt like he had run out of adrenalin. He was bleeding from various cuts that he'd received during Dalton's furious attack, his back ached from where he'd taken a blow to the kidney, and he was pretty sure he had a broken wrist. At this point, he figured his and Dalton's injuries probably balanced out. He closed his eyes for a second, wishing for the moment when this thing would be over and he could rest. When he opened them, Dalton's blue eyes met his brown, and then the fight was on.

This time, there were no fancy moves, no acrobatics or blurring. They were down to basic punches and kicks. Neither boy even had the energy to block. They alternated blows, absorbing the punishment and then returning it in kind.

Dalton knew he was at the end of his rope. He felt like his body was starting to shut down. He figured he had one last move left. If this didn't work, it was over. As Oscar threw a punch, Dalton bent backward to avoid the hit, then continued the motion by flipping backwards, his right foot catching Oscar's chin on the way around before landing back on his feet.

Oscar went flying, crashing to the ground, once again halfway out of the circle. His eyes rolled up in his head, and he raised a weak hand to try to signal Alec. "I give," he called out in a breathless tone, arm smacking back down on the mat as the last of his energy drained away.

The crowded roared, cheering for the winner. Dalton turned slowly in a circle, seeing all of his transgenic brethren cheering for him. He managed a weak smile and shakily raised his right and only functioning arm in triumph.

"Yay," he said flatly, barely having the energy to get the words out. "I win."

And with that comment, Dalton closed his eyes and fell to his knees, then crashed forward on the ground next to Oscar, landing face first.

The crowd starting breaking up, offering congratulations as they passed to both boys on their impressive display, even though both of them were too tired to care. The transgenic population had been well entertained, and the tournament would surely be the talk of TC for weeks to come.

Alec hopped off the hood of the car and sauntered over to the boys, then knelt in between their semi-comatose bodies. He gave Dalton a nudge and managed to flip the boy over to his back, eliciting a groan from the X-6.

"So," Alec said, folding his hands, "you boys have anything to say for yourselves?"

Dalton was silent. He was afraid that in his half-delirious state, he would say something stupid, and he really couldn't take any more of Alec's version of _punishment_. He tilted his head slightly, which was all he could manage, when he heard Oscar draw in a hitching breath to speak.

"Yeah. You are one mean motherfucker. … … _Sir_," Oscar added, flushing red when realized what he'd just said and to whom he had said it. Oscar had a brief flash of his days back at Manticore, when a comment like this would have probably earned him a stint in solitary or a bullet in the head. He had to remind himself that this was not Manticore. He knew half of his mental hang-ups were due to the fact that he just couldn't forget those days. But it seemed like hanging around with Dalton had certainly helped him forget.

Alec laughed at Oscar's obvious slip of the tongue, then leaned in so only the two boys would hear him. "You may hate me now, but trust me, after that display, the chicks'll be all over you guys." He reached forward and ruffled each boy's hair, then stood and swaggered his way back to Max.

Dalton could see the crowd leaving, though he could barely keep his eyes open. But he managed to open them a bit wider when he saw Kazi walking by slowly. He saw her pause, her eyes running up and down his body, and the side of her mouth quirked up in a crooked smile, causing a dimple to appear in her cheek. She stopped next to him and knelt, raven hair falling forward as she reached over to wipe the sweat from his brow.

"Nice moves, Dalton," Kazi said in her husky voice, which made him think of whiskey and sex--not that he'd had much experience with either. "See you around," she murmured, running her hand through his damp hair and then around to rest over his barcode for a moment, which, for transgenics, was a sign of definite interest. Having declared her intentions, she stood and walked away, with just enough of sway in her hips to tease.

Dalton let out a harsh bark of a laugh. Even if he found the lovely Kazi in his bed at the end of the night, he wouldn't be able to do anything about it. Probably for a month, at this rate, the way he was hurting. _Oh, the fucking irony_.

Max frowned at the two boys, hating that she actually felt sorry for them, even after what they had done. Alec sure knew how to cook up a punishment, that was for sure. "Maybe we should get them back to the X-6 barracks," she said.

Alec turned his head to look back at the boys, neither of whom had moved a muscle. "Nah, leave 'em. Serves 'em right." He threw an arm over Max's shoulder and began to lead her away.

Max looked up at him, a bemused look on her face. "You totally got the details from them, didn't you?" Alec was silent, schooling his face to look innocent, but Alec could never look convincingly innocent--at least not when he was awake. "Yeah. You did," Max said in a teasing tone, slipping out from under his arm and trying to give him a stern look, but mostly failing.

Alec put his hands to his chest. "Come on, Maxie! You've barely let me out of your sight in the past six months. You've only let me go on basic supply runs, and even then you're hoverin' over me like a mother hen. I'm going stir crazy here! I need some action! If I gotta get it vicariously, so be it."

Max looked at Alec, her mind cataloging every spot on his body that had been ravaged during that night six month ago. But those wounds had healed, and Alec was whole once more--he had been for a long time. Max realized that up to this point, Alec had been humoring her by staying inside TC and only going on milk run missions, though she suspected he had snuck out once or twice. Knowing Alec, it was probably more than once or twice.

She was terrified of letting him put himself in harm's way again, terrified of losing him, but she knew that if she held on too tight, the risk of losing him was just as great. After spending two decades in a cage, freedom was something Alec valued above almost all else.

"Well, as long as it's just vicariously," Max said in a teasing tone, but her heart ached, knowing that her days of sheltering him from danger had come to an end.

Alec moved over and bumped her with his hip. "You know those girls got nothing on you, babe."

"Yeah, yeah," Max replied, waving away his comment. "Kissass."

"You know what?" Alec said, his face suddenly transformed by a wicked grin. "Why don't we head back to our place and you can punish me for being a bad boy." The grin transformed into a full smirk, anticipation in his eyes.

Max let her eyes briefly roam up and down his body. She wouldn't mind doing just that, but she couldn't let him win. Not that easily. That was not how their relationship worked.

Max rolled her eyes and shook her head. "I swear, is sex the only thing you think about?"

Alec raised his eyebrows and drew back his head, the look on his face asking _What else is there? _

Max laughed, and they walked on for a bit in silence. When she glanced over at him again, she saw he was pouting, his lips drawn down in a frown, the lower one sticking out slightly.

_Goddamn, he's totally hot when he pouts like that. I wonder if he knows what it does to me?_

_I think he just might._

Max smirked, then reached over to give Alec a hard slap on the ass. She ran a few steps ahead of him, then turned around and took jogging steps backwards so she could watch him.

"Race you back to the apartment, hotboy!" she said with a laugh, then blurred down the street, her hair flying behind her.

Alec gave a deep masculine chuckle. _The pout works every time_, he thought, then tore off down the street after her.

* * *

The sky was beginning to turn from golden to shades of pink and purple. The rest of the transgenic population had wandered off, finding other forms of entertainment. Dalton and Oscar still lay on the ground, in the exact same positions they had been in for the past twenty minutes.

"Hey, Oscar?" Dalton called out in a tired voice, staring up at the darkening sky, unable to turn his head.

The only reply from Oscar was a grunt.

"Can you move?" Dalton asked.

"No," came the clipped reply.

There was a long pause, and both boys continued to stare up at the sky, the short conversation taking too much energy. "Shit. Me either," Dalton finally replied.

There was another pause as the boys digested this information. Oscar suddenly narrowed his eyes, squinting skyward. "Dalton?" he said in a questioning tone.

"Yeah?"

Oscar took a few breaths before he spoke again. "Remind me, if you have any _more _bright ideas, to tell you to fuck off."

An hour and a half later, Dalton stiffly made his way back to his room after helping Oscar back to his bunk, with a stop at Medical in between to get patched up. Dalton had his own room for months now. It was still in the X-6 barracks building, but separate, thanks to Alec. A perk of his position as assistant to the SIC, Alec had said. Dalton figured it had just been Alec's way of saying thanks for being there for him during the whole ordeal with White. He still had to use the communal bathroom, which was not really a problem since he was used to that from back at Manticore, but at least he had his own space. Even if it was not much more than a bed, a small dresser, and a card table and chairs, it was his own. He'd never had a place he could truly call his own before.

He managed to get the door open and stumble through, bracing his back against it once it was closed. He was ready to collapse, and wasn't sure he could even make it the four or five steps it took to get to his bed. He glanced over at the bed with longing, then straightened a bit as he saw something that hadn't been there earlier in the day.

There, sitting on bed, was a chocolate cupcake with a candle in it. Dalton took several dragging steps toward the bed. As he got closer, he saw there was a slip of paper below the cupcake with a book of matches sitting on top of it. At the bottom of the paper, it said LIGHT ME.

Dalton had told Alec the whole story about his and Oscar's fifteenth birthday celebration--his explanation for their night on the town. Alec must have set the cupcake up before fight, because he'd heard him run off with Max, and when those two got into it, no one saw them for hours.

Dalton reached forward with his good arm, gritting his teeth as the muscles in his back protested. He slipped the piece of paper out from under the cupcake and turned it over, somehow knowing that there was more to the message. On the other side of the paper, it said _Happy Birthday, Kid_ in Alec's sprawling, sloppy handwriting.

Dalton smiled.

The end.

Inzane

May 2007

* * *

A/N: I would like to thank everyone who reviewed this story. I wasn't sure how well this would come across since it was not primarily about Max and Alec. It was something I just had to exorcise from the brain before I moved on. Dalton and Oscar are just too much fun to write. If I ever do a true sequel to The Friggin' Cure (okay, more likely _when_), you can be sure that they will both make an appearance. 


End file.
